Inside the Fashion Bubble - The New York Times |
- Inside the Fashion Bubble - The New York Times
- Olivier Saillard Publishes Fashion Anthology - WWD
- Sustainability Is A Tectonic Shift In Fashion, Here Is How Brands Can Adapt - Forbes
- Look and feel good: How tech could save the fashion industry - CNN
- Rent the Runway Offers Cash and Apologies to Angry Customers | News & Analysis, News Bites | BoF - The Business of Fashion
| Inside the Fashion Bubble - The New York Times Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:40 AM PDT  PARIS — When a parade of black-robed figures files solemnly by, each wielding a long, narrow black scepter, or spear (it was hard to tell), and then carefully mounts the walls of a giant reflecting pool and begins to dip the sticks into the water — and all this happens on the same day that Jacques Chirac's death is announced in France and impeachment picks up steam in the United States and probably something equally dire happens in Britain — well, it might be natural to assume you were about to see some sort of elaborate funeral rite. Or an exorcism. And when those very same figures lift up their scepters, or spears, and begin, oh so gently, to pull them apart and whoosh them through the air, it might be natural to hold your breath. But when out of series of intricate loops come giant, iridescent … soap bubbles (soap bubbles!), floating every which way, dancing on the wind, it is impossible not to laugh. Image  And when beneath them appears a fantastical assortment of women in giant metallic crowns, like Aztec pyramids, above multilayered tank tops and intricately seamed robes in black and pink and mustard, royal exoskeletons gleaming with sequins, shoulders jutting up to the sky, handbags soaring from waists like sci-fi panniers, ruffles and weirdness all in one, it is as if you have gone over the rainbow to an alternate world. These are dark times. Yet there was Rick Owens, lord of the gothic gargoyles, being bubblicious. Sometimes it is still possible to be surprised by fashion, in the best way. (Also, of course, in a less good way, as when Sébastien Meunier took Ann Demeulemeester, down a dirty Rockette route via patent leather, fishnets and lots and lots of flashing bare leg.) Sure, Mr. Owens came to his alien nation through a somewhat circuitous mental route that began with the hot button issue of immigration (bizarrely, things move so fast now that the topic feels like yesterday's front page); which made him think about his Mexican grandmother and how she would be treated today; which made him think about visiting her as a small boy and the parks in Pueblo, Colo.; and the movie star María Felíx, known for playing a strong woman in a man's world. From there he leapt to Josef and Anni Albers of the Bauhaus, and their trip to Mexico, and Luis Barragán, the Mexican architect and his use of color in buildings and — well. This is how it works. But this was not Frida Kahlo and piñatas; it was a reminder of the positive effects of cross-border fertilization. Could you tell? Maybe, if you looked really hard. But it didn't matter. Because in the end, what infused the collection was not anger or cynicism, which often seem the defining tenors of the moment, but an invitation: Let's play. Roll the dice. Spin the color wheel. Have some fun. Fun! Remember that? Barely. Stop watching your social feeds. See where it takes you. The Playing FieldsIt took Julien Dossena at Paco Rabanne down a daisy-and-heart-strewn highway to the 1960s and '70s, for both women and men (hello, Paco Rabanne men's wear). Chain mail isn't armor, silly; it's sparkle by another name. It took Glenn Martens of Y/Project into an intriguing reality distortion field, with necklines purposefully pulled to the side, cardigans hoiked up and over, va-va-voom sheath dresses crumpled just so, the familiar twisted just enough to become a tease. And it took Olivier Rousteing at Balmain to all sorts of exaggerated, over-the-top places, which he (in his notes) situated in the late 1990s and turn of the millennium, in Destiny's Child and Britney Spears, though VH1 and Grace Jones also seemed to get in the mix. Actually "mix" might be an understatement for the riot of techno circles and stripes and polka dots, graphic black and white and millennial pink and Tetris tone jersey flares and one-legged sequined jumpsuits that appeared. Metallic discs played a role. So did satin power jacket/plissé gown hybrids; Crayola-toned skinny jeans with matching jean jackets; simple white T-shirts with serious shoulder pads; suspenders; and a Big Bird fuzzy-wuzzy onesie covered in bright yellow tubular beads. Also a plastic-fantastic slip dress that looked as if it had been made from transparent Lego blocks. And a series of haute Playboy bunny white-lapel tuxedo jumpsuits and gowns. People in the audience were smiling, but whether it was in happiness or sheer disbelief was not entirely clear. Still, there's nothing halfway about Mr. Rousteing's moxie: He's all-in. It's a sense of gusto that was missing from a pretty, but dutiful, Chloé collection by Natacha Ramsay-Levi, who abandoned most of her former cool girl-on-the-road complications in favor of a straightforward mix of '80s pinstripes and floaty dresses. And it was missing from Off-White. Perhaps it fell through the various holes that an absent Virgil Abloh had punched out of pants and tops and bags (the designer was resting at home for "health reasons," an email had informed everyone a few weeks earlier). Atmospheric ChangeSaid holes were supposed to resemble meteor craters — also cheese from Wisconsin, where Mr. Abloh went to school — according to the show notes, but they mostly seemed like extraneous attempts to cut deeper meaning into what were essentially simple pieces: the shirtdress, the tank, leather pants, the giant parachute-silk ball gown. The show began with a recording of Dr. Mae Jemison, who became the first black woman in space in 1992, discussing the relationship between science and art. Mr. Abloh is a genius at giving brand language the gravitas of meta-cultural-commentary, but in this case, his Meteor Shower (that was the title of the collection) was more like a drizzle. So it was a pleasure to enter the maze of white pleated curtains created by Jonathan Anderson at Loewe, dotted with pots of marsh grasses and soaring geodes that had been sliced open to show the sparkling crystals within, and engage in a finely tuned game of hide and seek with history. Bits and pieces of 16th- and 17th-century costume were spliced with the contemporary wardrobe, abstracted and overblown or reduced to a detail. I spy with my little eye … an extravagant bishop's sleeve on a slithery black wrap dress; structured panniers atop a sheer lace frock; peaks and valleys of silk and summer lawn in elaborate christening layers; antique tablecloth linen shirtdresses and baby doll macs; ribbed knits, the necks rimmed in marabou, and simple black jackets, the seams dangling diamanté strings. There's a Marie Antoinette-before-the-guillotine strain of lost aristocracy running through many collections this season. Mr. Owens also offered two elaborately constructed Versailles gowns, bustles and all, one in cream, one in black, like mirror images of good and evil. You can understand where it comes from. The obvious reference is Dickens, but the trick of these clothes is that they've taken it somewhere else entirely, so instead the phrase that keeps coming to mind belongs to E.E. Cummings: "when the world was puddle-wonderful." Splash.  |
| Olivier Saillard Publishes Fashion Anthology - WWD Posted: 27 Sep 2019 12:51 PM PDT  BEDTIME STORY: Fashion tomes tend to be more coffee-table books than bedtime reading, but Olivier Saillard wants us to be flicking through his latest editorial work on a lazy Sunday morning lie-in. "Le Bouquin de la Mode," published by Éditions Robert Laffont, is a more than 1,200-page French-language paperback edited by Saillard that groups together texts about the culture of fashion, including extracts from literary texts from authors like Émile Zola and Charles Baudelaire. "The main challenge was that it's a book without pictures," said Saillard at the launch event at the Association Azzedine Alaïa Thursday evening, which gathered guests including Charlotte Rampling, Dominique Issermann, Nathalie and Lola Rykiel, Elie Top and Sarah Andelman. "It's not a coffee-table book. I think it's the biggest anthology of texts about fashion that has been published to date, with more than 50 authors who have written about fashion," Saillard continued. The volume, which features a drawing by Christian Lacroix of an Alaïa gown on its cover, will be in stores on Oct. 10. Rampling drew parallels with a show she worked on with Saillard and Tilda Swinton at the Musée d'Art Moderne. "It was around photography without showing any photos, and Olivier's book is about fashion without showing any pictures, so there's something going on here," said the actress, whose next release is Paul Verhoeven's "Benedetta," set in the 17th century in a monastery. You May Also Like |
| Sustainability Is A Tectonic Shift In Fashion, Here Is How Brands Can Adapt - Forbes Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:34 AM PDT  Staff working for Moises Nieto's brand prepare a Spring-Summer 2016 fashion show by for Ecoembes, at ... [+] ASSOCIATED PRESSSustainability is the fashion industry's latest trend. Brands, retailers and designers are pledging their hearts to the environment and to protecting their workforces, and yet the industry remains the second largest polluter in the world. The horrendous working conditions and illegally low wages at Boohoo's factories have not stopped the company's profits from growing, or consumers wanting their fast fashion. Of the two opposing forces: the desire to be sustainable and the desire for fashion at a low price, which one is set to win in the long term? To understand this, we need to look at the two main entities that can affect real change: mass market consumers and big companies. On the big company side, we are seeing both mass market and luxury brands singing from the same song sheet. Inditex, the owner of Zara, pledged that all of Zara's collections will be made from 100% sustainable fabrics before 2025. At the G7 summit this August, French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled the Fashion Pact, a set of shared objectives for the fashion industry to reduce its environmental impact. Francois-Henri Pinault, the chief of executive of Kering, is leading the initiative, which has now been signed by 30 brands. Consumers also seem to do more than say the right thing. Millions of people are marching against climate change, inspired by Greta Thunberg's protests in New York last weekend. Part of the climate change conversation is about the sustainability of the clothes people wear and the food they eat. Activist and filmmaker Susan Rockefeller sees a shift from consumption to creativity. She says "we have created a culture of fast food and fast fashion. Maybe it's convenient for us but it's completely destroying our environment."  Susan Rockefeller, film maker and activist, opened Fashionnovation with a talk on sustainability Kelly TaubThis attitude is being echoed in the rise of second hand buying, but seen through a new lens. Previously, somebody would buy a second-hand Chanel because they could not afford a new one. This aspirational purchase meant that they would not want to tell anyone that they bought the bag from another owner. Today's second-hand movement is different. Today's second-hand consumers are proud of how they buy, because it is not about saving money, but about protecting the environment. How to make and sell sustainable fashion was on everybody's lips at Fashinnovation, a conference that opened New York Fashion Week, where Rockefeller delivered the keynote. She believes that a positive outcome of sustainable fashion will be not only a cleaner planet and better working conditions, but a flourishing of human creativity and individual style. Rockefeller says "when people own who they are and what their own style is, they don't need to be seasonal. They can think about what makes them feel good and find creative expression in their clothing and their work". However, it is difficult for anybody but the biggest brands to be sustainable, without massive cuts into their margins. Amidst the retail apocalypse, when well-known retailers are failing and Amazon is ever expanding into fashion, shrinking margins are not what brands what to see. Choose one goal and work towards it Rockefeller suggests picking one of the Sustainable Development Goals and working towards that. She says "for new designers, if you are making something, make it as sustainably as possible. Try to find alternative packaging, find where your fabrics come from." Rockefeller, who sits on the board of the Oceana, a non-profit to preserve the world's oceans, adds that picking sustainable fabrics is especially important for ocean protection. Since up to 35% of the microplastics found in the ocean come from synthetic clothing, it is worth checking to see how your latest leggings are made. Tina Nguyen, a sustainability expert who advises large fast fashion companies and small luxury brands, says that education and collaboration are the two vital steps towards sustainability. She says that companies must "educate themselves on the human rights issues that are prevalent in global supply chains and on the environmental costs of producing their key products." Knowledge is the first step Nguyen clarifies "on the human rights side - the first step is to map your supply chain and to identify the actual factories that are making your products. A responsible company will visit these factories to ask the questions directly and see the working conditions with your own eyes." Nguyen adds that "on the environmental side - a good starting point might be to focus at your best-selling products and high-volume materials. Fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world and this occurs at all stages of a product's lifecycle. Only by first identifying the environmental impacts can a business make meaningful changes and improvements." Collaborate with the competition Unlike the fight for the consumer's wallet, "sustainability is not a competitive space. If you are working with a factory that produces for other brands then get in touch with them and see if they would like to collaborate on improvement projects." The number of people wanting their clothes to be sustainable as well as beautiful is rising. As always, the brands that give the consumer what they want are those who are set to win.  |
| Look and feel good: How tech could save the fashion industry - CNN Posted: 27 Sep 2019 05:29 AM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content]Look and feel good: How tech could save the fashion industry CNN  |
| Posted: 25 Sep 2019 01:55 PM PDT  Rent the Runway's boutique in Neiman Marcus's San Francisco store | Source: Courtesy NEW YORK, United States — Rent the Runway will temporarily stop accepting new subscribers and is issuing payments to some customers as the fashion rental platform scrambles to fix its snarled supply chain. Over the last few weeks, hundreds of customers have complained on social media about not receiving rented items. Users left frantic comments on Rent the Runway's Facebook page and on Twitter about missing dresses they'd chosen for events. Some also said they were unable to get through to the start-up's customer service team. "My dress never arrived and customer service isn't responding. HELP! My event is TOMORROW the 21st!!" a typical Facebook post read. In a message posted on its website, Rent the Runway said customers whose rentals never arrived would receive $200 "in an effort to make up for this failure." An email sent to subscribers Friday morning from Chief Executive Jenn Hyman said the service would stop accepting new subscribers as it continues to work through software updates to its fulfillment operation. "You rely on us for meaningful events in your life and to get dressed everyday. We realize we have let some of you down, and we need to fix it," Hyman wrote. Earlier this week, BoF reported that Rent the Runway's head of supply chain is stepping down. Marv Cunningham, who joined the company in October 2018 as chief supply chain officer after working at Target and Amazon, is leaving his position at the end of the month. In a statement, a Rent the Runway spokesperson confirmed the departure and said, "Marv has been an asset to Rent the Runway as we continue to scale our operations. We thank him for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours." Cunningham is a supply chain veteran, having previously served as the Target's vice president of supply chain engineering; he also was Amazon's director of fulfillment for five years. Cunningham did not respond to requests for comment. The startup's latest hiccups, which was first reported by Recode, illustrate the difficulties Rent the Runway is facing in running a business that heavily relies on an error-free supply chain. The company has faced difficulties managing its logistics before. In July, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, the company sent out a mass "We're Sorry" email, telling users it would increase the number of customer service personnel and enhance its delivery operations. But the latest problems received even more attention, in part because they overlapped with the Emmy Awards, with high-profile customers relying on the service to dress for the event. One writer from HBO's "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" chronicled the company's missteps on Twitter after she rented a dress for the Emmy Awards on Sunday night that never arrived. That instance and others like it are particularly striking for Rent the Runway, which Jenn Hyman and Jenny Fleiss founded in 2009 on the premise that their platform would become a place where women could rent cocktail dresses for important events, instead of buying an outfit for a single use. Since then, the company has flourished and is widely credited for pioneering the fashion rental space that now includes department stores like Bloomingdale's and brands like Urban Outfitters, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. Its services include an "Unlimited plan," which allows users to rent four products at a time for $159 a month, as well as an "Update plan" for $89 that allows customers to rent up to four items monthly. Earlier this year, Rent the Runway debuted rentals of home goods with West Elm, and added children's clothing too. On Friday, Rent the Runway tweeted that the company was doing an update to its system, which was why users were experiencing delays. "We're in the process of upgrading our operation in order to make your Rent the Runway experience even better including more inventory & access. In the short term, these changes are causing shipment & customer service delays," it wrote. Chief Executive Jennifer Hyman was responding to users on Twitter herself.
On Friday, Hyman also sent an email to subscribers, admitting the company was having a hard time keeping up with orders while it was "implementing significant changes." "Upgrading systems while still running the business at full speed is complex," Hyman wrote in the email, which was seen by BoF. "We know that we will make some mistakes, so for the next month, if you have time-sensitive events, please order a few days earlier than you normally would. We are sorry, and we own this." Many users say they hadn't received the email, or any communication, from Rent the Runway. Rent the Runway has a distribution centre in Secaucus, N.J., and opened a second processing centre in Arlington, Texas in July. It has raised over $300 million in funding and has a $1 billion valuation. Cunningham is a supply chain veteran, having previously served as the Target's vice president of supply chain engineering; he also was Amazon's director of fulfillment for five years. Related Articles: Everyone Is Launching Rental Services. Is There Enough Demand? Rent the Runway Aims to Be 'Amazon Prime of Rental' Rent the Runway CEO on Underestimating the Fashion Rental Market  |
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