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Showing posts from June, 2019

From Capri With Love: Fashion, Lifestyle and Sustainability Experts Share Precious Advice

While celebrating with Zimmermann the opening of the brand’s first store in Capri, three eminent guests sat down with WWD to share their five tips for… THE ULTIMATE HOLIDAY WARDROBE Roopal Patel  Courtesy Photo/Virgil Eguinard “I think there are five essentials that every woman needs to have with her on a summer vacation,” said Roopal Patel, Saks Fifth Avenue fashion director.  1. Obviously if you are going to a beach holiday you need to find the perfect bikini, or bathing suit that works for you. I always like carrying a neutral bathing suit and then a printed bathing suit. 2. It’s great to have one versatile dress that you can wear day to evening, you can wear to the beach, to the beach club, at lunch, but also to go out at night. For example, a printed dress from Zimmermann is perfect, because they have so many great prints to choose from. 3. Definitely you need flats, I think everyone is always stressed about packing high heels on vacation and honestly it is not that chic ...
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Fashionphile Aims to Play With Luxury’s Heavy Hitters

Sarah Davis envisions the day when brands such as Hermès, Chanel and Louis Vuitton partner with luxury resale ecommerce sites such as Fashionphile, the company she founded in 1999, recognizing that circularity matters to consumers, and that the the sale of an unwanted item frees up room in closets for something new, bringing sales back to the brands. If the idea of closely held French couture and ready-to-wear house Chanel (which is already suing Fashionphile competitor The RealReal and What Goes Around Comes Around), or luxury groups like LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton, Compagnie Financière Richemont or Kering hooking up with the 20-year-old Fashionphile sounds a little far-fetched, it would be a mistake to discount Davis. The fact that most luxury brands don’t sell handbags, fine jewelry and very expensive watches online is by all intents and purposes an engraved invitation to Fashionphile and similar sites to sell “gently used” products to consumers who don’t have access to brand...
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Zimmermann Expands Its Resort Business With Boutique in Capri

CAPRI — “You have to be physically fit to work in fashion. The pace is frenetic and it’s a lot of work.” Nicky Zimmermann, cofounder and creative director of Australian women’s brand Zimmermann, confessed during an interview on Friday in Capri, where the fashion label organized a two-day event to mark the opening of its first store on the chic Mediterranean island. Despite her busy schedule and the frequent trips from her native Australia to other countries, the designer revealed she enjoys her working life. “Having fun is so important for us. I’m so lucky that I work with my sister [the brand’s cofounder, Simone Zimmermann] and my husband [the company’s chief executive officer Chris Olliver] and we truly enjoy what we do,” Zimmermann said. The Zimmermann store in Capri.  Ed Reeve/Courtesy Photo. The brand made a name for itself with its signature feminine, colorful and lively take on ready-to-wear and swimwear. That touch was translated into the brand’s new store here, designed by...
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Bridget Foley’s Diary: LVMH, A Matter of Pride

Whatever is the opposite of a beauty junky, I’m it. Fifty options of beige and brown for my face and eyes agitate rather than exhilarate, like the angsty process of distilling a million swatches down to that single perfect shade of white paint. I shop for makeup out of dire need, not for fun. Yet I experienced one of my most memorable shopping moments at a Sephora. Two Christmases ago, on the hunt for a fragrance for a 13-year-old girl, I selected something youthful and headed for checkout. “Would you like it monogrammed?” a woman asked, motioning toward an etching machine. When I said that I didn’t know the girl’s initials, only her first name, Amanda, the woman looked quizzical until I told her that I’d taken the girl’s ornament from an angel tree. “Let’s do ‘Amanda,’” she said. The no-charge process was tedious (at least to an impatient type), starting with expert removal of the cellophane covering the box, to be restored at the end of the process. The bottle then went under the mac...
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Asos x ‘The Lion King’ Collaboration Taps Into Nineties Nostalgia

Asos is tapping into the hype for “The Lion King.” The fast-fashion retailer is teaming with Disney to create a capsule collection based on the much-loved movie ahead of its upcoming live-action reboot, which will premiere in theaters on July 19. Read More: How Asos Is Helping ‘Life Is Beautiful’ Diversify Product Beyond the Festival Hitting Nineties nostalgia at its core, the collection leverages original scenes and beloved characters from the 1994 animated version, including images of Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu. The pieces also incorporate popular prints from the decade, like tie-dye and animal and tropical patterns. The collection spans women’s wear and men’s — also available in Asos Curve and Asos Plus sizes — and offers pieces like button-up shirts, shorts, T-shirts, sweaters, bodysuits, windbreakers, socks and hats. Standout collection pieces include a matching two-piece set featuring a print of Zazu the toucan and a T-shirt depicting the film’s famous “Circle of Life” s...
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What Brands Should Look for in a Chinese Partner

Chinese investors and partners: Are they a turnkey solution that will open doors to the world’s most lucrative consumer market, or a culture clash waiting to happen? The number of deals between Western brands and Chinese firms is unmistakably surging, from the sale of a majority stake in Jason Wu to private equity firm Green Harbor in May to the stream of acquisitions and partnerships coming from the likes of Ruyi Fashion Holding Group and Fosun. Self Portrait is the latest brand to hold talks with several interested Chinese parties. Brand founder Han Chong revealed to WWD that the London-based contemporary women’s wear label is targeting a venture for China with a local fashion company and expects to finalize a deal soon. “China moves so fast; in order to catch up with that, having a good partner is crucial,” said the designer. “Despite me being Malaysian Chinese, it’s still very hard for me to navigate the way, the speed and the culture of Chinese doing business.” WWD has also learne...
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Paris Couture Seeks New Blood as Business Booms

PARIS — As Paris prepares to hold its first haute couture week since the death of Karl Lagerfeld, brands large and small are vowing to keep the art form alive by drafting a new generation of craftspeople into their specialized workshops. All eyes will be on Virginie Viard, who succeeded Lagerfeld as artistic director of Chanel, when she presents her first solo couture collection for the house on Tuesday. Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, noted that the 57-year-old designer was intimate with every facet of the couture process. Having joined Chanel as an intern in 1987, Viard was quickly put in charge of embroidery, working directly with Lesage. From the year 2000, she was director of the house’s creation studio, overseeing the development and production of all the haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections. “This is really her comfort zone,” Pavlovsky told WWD. “Of course there’s a certain amount of stress, because it’s her collection and n...
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Partying Chic With the Zimmermann Sisters

CAPRI — Che chic! No better Italian expression — which translates into “how chic” in English — can describe the vibe sisters Nicky and Simone Zimmermann injected into the two-day event the Australian company organized to fete the opening of its Capri store. The program kicked off on Thursday night with a dinner at Capri’s legendary and elegant Il Riccio restaurant, located on the cliffs by the Blu Grotto sea cave and ended on Friday afternoon with an extended lunch under a lemon pergola in the lush garden of the exclusive Villa Bismarck. Both the happenings not only surprised the taste buds with traditional specialties of Caprese cuisine, but also featured sophisticated flower and fruits table arrangements, and hand-painted plates. The Zimmermann sisters’ typical laid-back and friendly attitude took center stage during the events, which drew celebrities including Laura Dern and Katie Holmes. “I’m putting together my second film called ‘Rare Objects.’ I’m going to direct that and also a...
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Yuima Nakazato Couture Fall 2019

Pushing further into experimental territory, Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato revisited the transformable silhouettes he created in seasons past using innovative materials that featured “Brewed Protein,” a sustainable fiber developed by Japanese biotech start-up Spiber using a process not dissimilar to beer manufacturing to create artificial proteins. Set against a backdrop that included a shower of gold particles suspended in mid-air — a sculpture titled “Goldrain,” by Japanese contemporary art studio The Eugene, meant to nod to the mechanisms that created our planet — he mixed and matched materials, delivering a cohort of pared back shift dresses, color-blocked separates and outerwear with a sporty edge about them. Visible seams, openings and partially detached panels made good use on the promise of the Type-1 snap closure in delivering adaptable, modifiable-on-the-go garments. Backstage, the designer reiterated that he wanted to “design a new relationship between humans and clothes,...
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Zuhair Murad Resort 2020

With Spain as influence, Zuhair Murad worked Torero-style jackets, bright red blouses with lace and dresses with flamenco-style ruffles into his resort collection, borrowing a new strain of sensuality with a masculine tinge. The jackets came in white, with black embroidery running across the shoulders and down the arms. Beaded fringes added an extra flair. Also in this vein, a black suit jacket was embellished with gold and red embroidery, covering the shoulders and creeping down the collar. Matching clutch bags came in gold and stamped leather and black lace, encrusted with crystals or in sleek, gray leather with a ribbonlike clasp. Disco-flavored pieces included a stunning gold crystal encrusted gown, with a cascade of ruffles spilling into a thigh-high slit. Last season’s pleated, shimmery pastel rainbow dress made a return — in silver, with bare shoulders, or gold, with short loose sleeves. In the ultra light and airy department, a wispy dress in a stylized animal print was particu...
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Miu Miu Cruise 2020

What better a context for showcasing hats than a night at the races? That was Miuccia Prada’s thinking for the presentation of her knockout collection on Saturday at the picturesque Hippodrome d’Auteuil race track in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The open-air event, in the midst of a European heatwave, kicked off with a horse race as guests including Céline Dion, Nicole Richie and Gabrielle Union excitedly flapped their Miu Miu fans in the stands. “For a moment I thought I was in England, I was like, ‘Where’s my hat?’” deadpanned Dion, taking in the expansive race course, the Eiffel Tower spiking the horizon. “It’s full of firsts for me — my first Miu Miu show, my first time betting on a horse… and the set-up is extraordinary with the drones, the grass, the horses getting ready. It’s fun and that’s what life should be about,” added the singer. Mixing Forties and Seventies references, Prada’s spin on “conservative” occasion wear read like an homage to Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic “Scandal”...
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Hollywood Stylist Anita Patrickson’s Amanu Sandal Brand Sets Hotel Partnership

Hollywood stylist Anita Patrickson has aligned with Singita luxury lodges to bring her made-to-order Amanu sandals to resorts in South Africa. It’s the first move into the hospitality sector for the brand, and a full circle moment for Patrickson, who originally hails from Capetown. She parlayed her work as a fashion stylist for Julianne Hough, Portia de Rossi and others into a custom shoe business that launched last year in L.A., inspired both by traditional sandals made using tire rubber in Africa, and the tradition of resort sandal making on the island of Capri. Now she’s bringing the eco-conscious, high-touch experience  customers get in her West Hollywood flagship to guests at Singita. In June, Patrickson traveled to South Africa with one of the U.S. makers to train the staff at Singita Ebony Lodge and Lemombo Lodge to cobble the shoes, priced $160 to $275, from an array of leathers, with pony hair and feather trim, in under an hour. Amanu craftsperson  Courtesy “My parent...
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Apple says it doesn't track you, but apps on iPhone sure do

Apple is less data hungry than Facebook, Google and Amazon and processes data on device instead of Cloud. But apps still track you on iPhone and iPad.             from USATODAY - Tech Top Stories https://ift.tt/2Yf5fPq
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Mission Control restored 50 years after Apollo 11

NASA’s old Mission Control in Houston has been meticulously restored to the way it looked 50 years ago when two men first landed on the moon. It was last used for space shuttle flights in the 1990s. It opens to the public next week. (June 28)             from USATODAY - Tech Top Stories https://ift.tt/2FF96Oj
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LF Logistics Gets $300 Million Cash Infusion from Temasek

Singapore’s sovereign investment fund Temasek has bought a 21.7 percent stake worth $300 million in Li & Fung’s logistics business, LF Logistics. The investment values LF Logistics at approximately $1.4 billion. Proceeds from the investment will be used to fund “future capital expenditures, repay existing bank facilities and accelerate business growth initiatives at LF Logistics”, the Hong Kong company said, adding that its proposed spin-off of the logistics arm will be postponed until further notice. After completion, Li & Fung will remain a controlling shareholder of LF Logistics. While Li & Fung’s core supply chain solutions business has been challenged in recent years due to a weakening retail environment in key markets like the U.S., Li & Fung’s logistics business has reported robust “multiple-year double digit organic growth”, it said. Its expansion has been buoyed by the rise of China, the e-logistics boom, accelerated development in the ASEAN region and rapid ex...
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Next-Gen Proof Your Business

Generation Z owes traditional retailers nothing, in their eyes. This haughty demographic would rather launch their own businesses — and many have — than settle for less-than-ideal product quality, merchandising, ethics, etc. To better understand what resonates with this generation, WWD interviewed investors and industry experts as well as entrepreneurs to define key traits of the next-gen entrepreneur while understanding how traditional fashion and beauty retailers and brands can essentially “next-gen proof” their business. Who is the next-gen entrepreneur? Hayley Barna, a cofounder of BirchBox and the first female partner at First Round Capital, compares mission-driven next-gen entrepreneurs to “heat-seeking missiles” in their forthright behavior that helps them accomplish their goals. “Successful entrepreneurs are constantly collecting data, listening to customers and adjusting course if necessary,” she said, citing an example of a recent investment she made in San Francisco-based st...
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Maya Hawke Is Done Resisting the Family Business

Maya Hawke was partially trying to save on Ubers, and mostly calm her nerves, so she was walking around Los Angeles — miles and miles of walking. It was Oscar week, 2018, the city was abuzz, and she had just left a “funny little house” for her final audition for the new season of “Stranger Things,” the Netflix phenomenon from the Duffer brothers. “Basically, a lot of things just fell into place,” Hawke says: She got the part, mid-meandering around the city, and though not entirely sure about what the part was, she knew it would change things for her. And it already has. For Hawke — the 20-year-old daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke — it’s the beginning of her stand-alone moment in Hollywood, as she joins the Netflix series for its third season, out July 4. She’s back home in New York now after spending seven months shooting “Stranger Things” in Atlanta. It’s hard to picture her anywhere but New York. She’s high energy, bopping around singing along to Gwen Stefani while browsing ra...
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Boots Unveils Beauty Concept Store in Covent Garden

LONDON — Boots has just lifted the curtain on its new concept beauty stand-alone store on Long Acre in Covent Garden here. The new location, in the former Marks & Spencer space across from the Covent Garden Underground station, has been refurbished to fit Boots’ latest mission to be enticing and fun. “We are really focused on bringing in all the brands in a glamorous way, and I think that this is a step forward for us. We’ve been changing the beauty halls in 26 of our stores already, and there has been a radical shift in the performance of our premium beauty sector. It gives us confidence that this is the way forward,” said Sebastian James, chief executive officer of the 170-year-old Boots, a division of Walgreens Boots Alliance. Spread over two floors and spanning 28,524 square feet, the new store is home to more than 300 brands across skin care, beauty, fragrance, hair care and wellness. Names include It Cosmetics, Becca, La Roche-Posay, Josh Wood Colour and Fenty Beauty. Instead...
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Procter & Gamble Debuts Hair-care Line for Black Women

Procter & Gamble is bringing its long-running My Black Is Beautiful platform to life with a product line. The My Black Is Beautiful brand is to launch in nearly all Sally Beauty doors in the U.S. — around 3,700 doors — with a collection of five products designed specifically for black women with very curly and coil-y hair textures. The brand is a result of a yearlong incubation project within P&G, with product ideas crowdsourced from social media. The product assortment is infused with a proprietary formula called Golden Milk, comprised of natural ingredients such as coconut milk, turmeric, ginger, honey and coconut oil. Products include the Hydrating Shampoo, $11.99; Fortifying Conditioner, $11.99; Tangle Slayer Conditioning Creams for type-three curls and type-four curls, $12.99 each, and Intense Recovery Treatment, $12.99.  This the first product line P&G has designed specifically for black women with very textured and curly hair types. Pantene Gold Series was launch...
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Cult South Korean Handbag Brand Gu_de Adds Shoes

Cult South Korean handbag brand Gu_de is expanding its footprint — literally. The label will launch its first range of shoes for spring 2020, riffing on the sophisticated design motifs that have contributed to its success. Founded in 2016 by Seoul-based designer Ji Hye Koo and her business partner husband, Ethan H.K. Song, the label gained fast notice from homegrown retailers like Beaker and went on to amass a roster of international stockists including Net-a-porter, Selfridges and Moda Operandi. Prior to launching Gu_de, Koo primarily honed her skills as a footwear designer in the fashion departments of South Korean conglomerates like Samsung. “I love shoes and I wanted to design the kinds of shoes that I would wear,” she told WWD. Gu_de’s debut shoes.  Courtesy Gu_de’s structured bags, often constructed of crocodile-stamped leather, have become street style catnip — with styles mimicking tiny canteens, briefcases and doctor’s bags. They fall into the new cheap-and-chic category o...
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Apple designer Jony Ive through the years

Jonathan "Jony" Ive the designer of numerous Macs, the iPod, iPhone and other products computer is leaving Apple after nearly 30 years to form LoveFrom, his own company.             from USATODAY - Tech Top Stories https://ift.tt/31ZMUYX
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Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne Win CFDA + Lexus Fashion Initiative

As the winner of the top prize for this year’s CFDA + Lexus Fashion Initiative, Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne are ready to accelerate a sustainability-friendly plan that was months in the making. While the program’s winner takes home a $100,000 grant, all of the participants considered their efforts to be an everybody-wins kind of situation. In advance of Thursday night’s wrap-up party at Intersect by Lexus in New York, all of the contenders discussed the upsides of being part of the program. A few addressed the potential to share and scale up their ideas with others. “Designed to inspire commitment to transformative leadership, sustainable innovation and positive change,” the initiative consisted of a nine-month virtual residency with an emphasis on sustainable innovation. In addition to the Public School duo, Abasi Rosborough’s Abdul Abasi and Greg Rosborough; Araks’ Araks Yeramyan; Jonathan Cohen’s Jonathan Cohen and Sarah Leff, and Tracy Reese were vying for the $...
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50 cult-favorite things under $10 on Amazon

You don't have to spend a fortune to get something totally incredible.             from USATODAY - Tech Top Stories https://ift.tt/2KHzGus
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