del.icio.us fashion links for October 8, 2008

Thursday, October 9, 2008 3:00

Posted in category del.icio.us

del.icio.us fashion links for October 8, 2008:

It's an Ugly Business When Fashion and Reality TV Converge - washingtonpost.com
As designers have been sending their spring 2009 collections down the runways here, sometimes it has been hard to know whether one was watching a global industry engaged in its most urgently creative sales endeavors or if one was in the midst of a reality show.
Fashion trades on glamour, bitchiness and exclusivity. That keeps people intrigued. But it is that rare industry so focused on the ancillary elements that it often shrugs off the importance of its core product: the clothes. - Tags: none
Lululemon Prospects
Christine Day, the recently appointed C.E.O. of Lululemon Athletica, exhibits the kind of optimism usually reserved for religious leaders and self-help gurus.
"Even the Great Depression only lasted a certain number of years!" she chirps, by way of justifying the company's expansion plans in the face of a retail climate going more sour by the day. - Tags: none
Pursuit of Happiness - washingtonpost.com
It's dangerous to speak in absolutes, particularly in the fickle fashion business. But it would seem stingy, even churlish, not to state the obvious, even at the risk of sounding like the hyperbolic fashion editor who cried "Think pink!" in "Funny Face." - Tags: none
London school aims for trendy "Made in Bangladesh" - Yahoo! News
DHAKA (Reuters Life!) - "Made in Bangladesh" is set for a makeover after the Asian nation's key apparel sector signed up a London fashion design school to help it appeal to more trendy and quality-conscious buyers.
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Clients of Bangladesh's export-driven ready-made clothes sector include major U.S. and European retails such as Wal-mart, Tesco, JC Penny, Zara, GAP, H & M, Adidas, Puma, Marks and Spencer and G-STAR. - Tags: none
Valentino designer bitter to be leaving: media - Yahoo! News
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian designer Alessandra Facchinetti said she was bitter to be leaving the Valentino fashion house after learning from media reports that the company was replacing her, Italian newspapers said on Sunday. - Tags: none
Paris Week let down us fashion addicts with trousers that looked like nappies, pointy bras and unwearable nonsense | Mail Online
So, after four weeks of 300-plus shows, what will we all be scrimping to save for next spring?
Hmm, well. Embellishment - chunky necklaces, fringing on bags and belts, embroidery, crystals hung from every vantage point - is key, and an easy way to make an old outfit new.

Shoulders are big, checks are everywhere, as is a palette of (predictably) black and white, but also rose pink, yellow and ice blue. - Tags: none
Prêt-à-rapporter - Telegraph
Spending the past month watching fashion shows as the pillars of capitalism toppled was surreal. You'd find yourself sitting on a bench at Balenciaga discussing bail-out failure, while scanning the eyes of American buyers whose poker-faced, lacquered and pomaded confidence visibly slumped day by day. - Tags: none
Fashion Week Playlist: Paris - Lifestyle News - WWD.com
French musical legends haunted Paris Fashion Week. Dries Van Noten spun Serge Gainsbourg classics, interspersed with segments of dialogue from the films “Slogan,” “Cannabis” and “Anna,” and Louis Vuitton played hits by the late Parisian songbird Edith Piaf (of course for every high there is a low: the house’s preshow music was lifted from “The Muppet Show”). Inspirations varied elsewhere, from Chanel’s cheeky “Our House” by Madness to a live concert at Hussein Chalayan by the white-gloved Jean-Claude Chapuis, who produced a symphony using crystal wine glasses, or crystallophones. Here, some of the week’s top hits. - Tags: none
IMG, Smashbox to part ways after L.A. Fashion Week | All The Rage | Los Angeles Times
After 10 seasons of trying to make the marriage work, Culver City-based Smashbox Studios confirmed earlier-reported rumors that its partnership with events producer IMG would end after the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios that kicks off Sunday.
Though an IMG spokesman would not comment on the two groups parting ways beyond stating IMG remained “100% committed to the current event,” Davis Factor, who co-owns Smashbox with his brother Dean, confirmed the news in an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Times. - Tags: none
Nicolas Ghesquière to design costumes for Guggenheim performance | Frillr
French visual artist (and designer of Balenciaga boutiques) Dominique Gonzalez Foerster will present a performance installation at the Guggenheim Theatre October 24 and 25, with dresses by Balenciaga. The performance will be based on Soylent Green, an iconic science fiction film from the 70s. Nicolas Ghesquière designed the costumes, Fashion Week Daily reports - Tags: none