H&M Hosts Stylish Bash For Isabel Marant Collection

As if there wasn’t enough excitement surrounding the Isabel Marant for H&M collection, the fabulous duo hosted a stylish party to celebrate the collaboration in Paris last night.

A star-studded guest list, including Frieda Pinto, Alice Dellal, Audrey Tautou and January Jones, then proceeded to arrive wearing pieces from the new collection.

With the fashion pack flocking to the designer’s hometown, Marant adopted a nineties theme as a nod to the decade in which she launch her eponymous label in the same city.

Karlie Kloss Hops On Two Wheels And Rides Around New York For Coach Ad

Karle Kloss looked like any other stylish NYC girl-about-town when she saddled up on her vintage bicycle and took it for a spin round the streets for her al-fresco photoshoot for Coach.
The all-American supermodel, who is now a resident New Yorker after moving to the fashion capital from her hometown of St Louis, was seen parading the latest wares from the US label on the packed pavements of the busy fashion capital.
Paying homage to the '80s in an oversized grey and white snakeskin mac belted at the waist, 21-year-old Karlie made sure to inject some sexy sass into her autumn-ready outfit by flashing her high-shine pins whilst posing on her retro ride.
Coach's world famous leather goods added a touch of luxury to the fresh and fun ensemble, with a beige shoulder bag and white sandals proving the perfect accessories for Karlie's trusty trench.
Whatever Ms. Kloss is selling, we're buying!

Catty Karl

If there’s one thing that the Internet and Karl Lagerfeld have in common, it’s an intense (bordering on unsettling) love of cats. The former has its “Lol” variety, the latter, his darling Choupette. Today, WWD reports that Lagerfeld has taken his obsession to the next level and will release a collection of Choupette-inspired kitty-themed accessories, ranging from handbags and beanies to whisker-embellished fingerless leather gloves. Should you want to get your paws on it, the capsule will be available this holiday season exclusively at Karl Lagerfeld stores.

Andrew Richardson: Downtown and Dirty

Sex and streetwear aren’t the most obvious bedfellows, but editor, stylist, and all-around provocateur Andrew Richardson has united them in his new store, Richardson. “I don’t know if there is a logical connection between sex and streetwear, but I always thought that streetwear was sexy and cool,” he mused between puffs on a cigarette. “There’s always an attitude, and I think that’s sexy—sexy confidence.” That may be so, but his shop, which opens this Friday at 325 Broome Street in New York, sells swag that’s arguably more perverse than confidence-boosting hoodies.

Versace and the Haas Brothers Strike Gold

“I was shaking,” said Simon Haas of the first time he met Donatella Versace. Clearly, he and brother Nikolai have gotten over their initial nerves, because last night at Versace’s Soho store, the designers celebrated their second capsule for the house. Displayed in all its gilded glory, the range of homewares and fashion objects (available starting today) was no doubt worthy of the Versace name. A golden honeycomb and Medusa iPhone cover was a hit among guests (the brothers made matching compact mirrors, cigarette cases, and lighter holders, too), and the black and gold shackle cuffs, clutches, and belts; Medusa-pendant chains; and clever tie clips looked as though they could walk down Donatella’s runway. On the objet d’ art front, there were leopard statuettes in exotic colors, and rounding out the offering was an assortment of printed T-shirts covered in a mélange of Versace iconography. “The [black and gold] one was actually just the cover of our presentation,” said Simon, “but Donatella loved it so much that she told us it had to be a T-shirt. She’s the most supportive, visionary person ever.”

After the cocktail party, the likes of Waris Ahluwalia, Michael Avedon, Patrick Li, and Maria Cornejo headed to the Mercer Kitchen for an intimate dinner. And considering guests are always late to fashion fetes, it was somewhat surprising that nearly all the invitees turned up promptly at 8:30. “Of course, everyone’s on time,” said Cornejo, laughing, who just returned from an emotional trip to her native Chile. “They’re on time because there’s food!”

Richard Haines Lends His Hand to JvdF

Today marks the relaunch of accessory designer Justin von der Fehr’s Web site. And to celebrate his new platform—and his latest collection—von der Fehr tapped illustrator Richard Haines to create a series of unique drawings. “I wanted to create an interesting story incorporating JvdF and just thought—Richard,” von der Fehr said of the illustrations, which highlight some of his key pieces for the launch, including a simple suede wrap bracelet, a hand-etched solid 14-karat gold lighter case, and a solid 14-karat gold toggle pill case. Known for his unique approach to what he calls “necessary luxuries,” von der Fehr makes all of his objects right here in New York City—which is another reason he partnered with Haines. “Richard is the quintessential New Yorker,” said von der Fehr, adding that he admired the artist for his ability to stay true to himself throughout his career in fashion and, now, illustration.

For his part, Haines relished the opportunity to draw from a model. “For me, a drawing is all about a good, pure line, capturing a moment or gesture, and a loose way of applying color,” Haines explained. Their compatibility in design informs the collection, which is meant to convey originality and the spirit of the Big Apple. “I’d like to think all those elements are working in the series,” said Haines. Side by side, the drawings and accessories achieve a striking contrast of luxe detail and simplicity.

With prices ranging from $85 to $1,395, JvdF’s new collection is available at jvdfnyc.com, Neiman Marcus, and Neimanmarcus.com.

Marks & Spencer Wow With Best Of British Collection

M&S is celebrating the best of British fashion with a capsule collection rich in design and textile heritage.

Aptly described as ‘elegantly androgynous’, the 32-piece womenswear collection includes timeless tailoring, muted hues, monochrome and pops of electric pink.

The must-see collection also sees the beginning of M&S’ three-year partnership with the British Fashion Council, which aims to update the high-street with finest fabrics, including luxe Scottish cashmere and traditional Yorkshire cloths.

And what does it mean for us? With prices starting from just £39.50, M&S have crafted a premium collection with genuinely accessible pieces that even the strictest of shoppers can find excuse to invest in.

Between the black and grey mix suits, check cocoon coat and classic brogues, the collection boasts a wide-leg trouser that has Kate Moss inspiration written all over them.

Marks & Spencer’s Best Of British collection is available to shop in store and online now.

But which pieces will sell out first?

Jimmy Choo Co-Founder Tamara Mellon Launches Debut Clothing Line

Tamara Mellon made her name as the co-founder of Jimmy Choo, and now the shoe supremo has turned clothing queen with her debut collection.

Featuring luxe fabrics, cool laser cuts, subtle sprays of sequins and a heavy hit of leopard print, the 46-year-old's eponymous line is the perfect mix of classic staples and statement buys.

London-born Tamara, who parted ways with the iconic shoe brand in 2011, bucked the fashion week trend of showing her range months ahead of its release, telling Bloomberg: 'We're living in a world where women want to buy now wear now. They don't want to look at shows and then have products in stores six months later.'

The Surprising Way Victoria Beckham Makes All Her Money

Victoria Beckham is in the black. Her fashion business has just disclosed a 2012 profit of £1.5 million pounds; a definite turn up for the books from the previous year's slightly dismal loss of £1.6 million.

How has this company managed to turn things around so quickly? The Telegraph reveals that documents from Companies House suggest it was the business's diffusion line, Victoria Victoria Beckham that saved the day. The label has prices that start at £495, a sum that for many is well out of their financial comfort zone. But, when you think that a dress from the main collection starts at £1,300, suddenly it seems like a steal for a piece of a so-hot-right-now designer. Judging by the SS'14 Victoria Victoria Beckham dress that the designer wore straight after the main-label show this September, we can safely predict that this label and this designer will continue to drive sales, expectations, and fabulous designs in the upcoming year, at the very least.

How About Them Apples? Apologie Debuts Handbags

Olivia Cognet, the designer behind Paris-based footwear brand Apologie, scored a huge hit this Fall with her “eye” slippers. For Spring ’14, she’s branching out and spinning her surrealist aesthetic into handbags, too. “I love the idea of a [bag] that you can wear like a bijou with a little black dress,” says the designer of her hand-molded, apple-shaped purses, which come in tutti-frutti-colored kid suede, from bonbon pink, turquoise, and vermillion to navy and black. “There’s something poetic about wearing forbidden fruit,” she adds. Priced at about $746, Apologie’s apples land in select international retailers this January..

Punctuation Meets Punk At Roger Vivier

Long before there was the red sole, there was the “comma” shoe—also known as Roger Vivier’s Virgule. Launched in 1963, the shoe, famous for its curved heel, is the stuff of fashion lore. Last week, a major Vivier retrospective opened at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Virgule etc.…In the footsteps of Roger Vivier, and yup, the shoe earned top billing out of the immense body of work from the man who considered himself an architect and an inventor first, and a shoemaker by happenstance. Vivier and his Virgule’s world tour stops in London tomorrow at Selfridges Shoe Galleries—the largest shoe department in the world and an undisputed mecca for shoe lovers. It is here where the house will open its first shop in an event hosted by Inès de la Fressange, current creative consultant for Vivier, and designer Bruno Frisoni. It is all part of an international expansion of the brand, which has already seen shops opened this year in Japan and China.

The housewife who stole 905 designer bags worth $800,000

SOME women would do anything to own a designer handbag.

And for Jayne Rand that meant simply helping herself to one whenever she went shopping.

In just three years she managed to amass a collection 905 bags in a shoplifting spree that netted a haul worth more that $800,000.

The outwardly "quiet and respectable" 48-year-old housewife helped herself to luxury brands including Mulberry, Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Burberry - some priced at more than $1700 each.

Marc Jacobs confirms he is leaving Louis Vuitton after 16 years; to concentrate on IPO of Marc Jacobs brand

MARC Jacobs, the US designer credited with transforming Louis Vuitton from "stodgy luggage house" to global fashion giant on Wednesday received a standing ovation as news of his departure broke.

The US designer with a flair for showmanship is wrapping up his 16-year tenure to concentrate on a stock exchange flotation of his own brand Marc Jacobs, estimated by market sources to be "approaching the billion-dollar leagues".

Under his stewardship, Louis Vuitton has become one of the most sought after luxury brands, particularly in the lucrative Asian market, with "Vuitton mania" regularly prompting round-the-block queues outside the brand's stores.

Dress Like A Supermodel…Again

It’s back. Topshop announced today that it’s reigniting its hyper-successful collaboration with Kate Moss. Moss worked on fourteen collections for the high street retailer between 2007 and 2010, all of which were inspired by her own saucy, bohemian style. So why did the model decide Spring ’14 was the right time to revive the range? “I have really missed being involved in the design process, and working with the team at TOPSHOP,” she said in a press release. “Now more than ever with London being at the forefront of fashion…it feels like I’m back home working with TOPSHOP.” Moss is currently designing the lineup with Topshop’s creative director Kate Phelan. The new offering will hit stores worldwide in April 2014.

The State Of Texas Vs. Prada Marfa

Even if you’ve never seen Prada Marfa—and unless you’ve made a pilgrimage to rural Texas’ unlikely outpost of conceptual art, you probably haven’t—you’ve no doubt heard of it. The eerie adobe installation in the middle of the Texas desert was created by the artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset in 2005. Though it is made to resemble a store, it is arguably more of a sculpture, given that it’s not open for business (or open at all—the doors are permanently locked). And it is not an official Prada location, though Elmgreen and Dragset did receive the company’s permission to use the logo, and the house donated Prada bags and shoes for the windows, albeit bottomless bags and only right shoes to prevent looting.

House of Versace Is Coming to a TV Screen Near You

Among designers, Donatella Versace’s story is one of the more dramatic ones. Here is a woman who has dealt with family tragedy, betrayal, addiction, and disapproving male authorities, and seems to have come out fabulously on top. You might say her tale has the makings of a Lifetime movie.

Which is exactly what it is now. Last night, the likes of Helena Christensen and Michael Stipe headed to the Museum of Modern Art, where the network screened its new biopic, House of Versace, with the Cinema Society. Like the book on which it’s based—Deborah Ball’s attention-getting 2010 exposé —the telefilm is unauthorized by its subject. The house of Versace didn’t participate in the Lifetime movie and dismissed it in a recent statement as “a work of fiction.”

We’ll Take Fries With That

Paris-based designer Ligia Dias has a talent for taking unusual found objects—nuts and bolts, say, or, for Spring, mussels and fries—and turning them into jewelry people really want to wear. Dias’s surrealist moules frites Spring ’14 stems from her long-standing fascination with Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers. “He never worked with Schiaparelli, but he could have,” the designer noted. “For me, just the shell represents surrealism in a simplified way.” Worked into a chunky necklace, statement earrings, or charm bracelets, they bring a certain quirky chic to the table.

Hey Samsung, the Dumbwatch Industry Has You Beat

Swatch (UHR:VX) has made a self-winding timepiece with just 51 components. As Samsung (005930:KS) and other tech giants race to bring smartwatches to the public, slashing the number of moving parts in a timepiece is what counts as an extraordinary advance in the 500-year-old dumbwatch industry.

The latest from Swatch doesn’t send e-mail or measure your pulse. It won’t display pictures or make phone calls. The pitch, in fact, makes the new product sound like the anti-smartwatch: “Never before,” promises Swatch, “has simplicity been made so intriguing and surprising.” But it’s likely to deliver one thing that may very well prove beyond the reach of the companies turning out wristband computers: healthy, predictable sales.

Want to Sell Cologne? Add 'Sport' to the Name

Men want to smell good. Of course, “good” here means something entirely different from Japanese cherry blossom or Cashmere glow or any of the other fancy scents marketed to women. Judging by recent cologne sales, men apparently want to smell like athletes. (Which, if you think about it for two seconds, probably isn’t that good at all.)

Regardless, so-called “sports fragrances” have been growing at a rapid clip. According to NPD Group, in the 12 months ended June, U.S. department store sales of sports fragrances (which NPD defines as brands with “sport” in the name) were $40.8 million, up 16 percent year on year. That’s much faster than the 5 percent growth in sales for all men’s fragrances.

Some men’s deodorants also put “sport” in their labels, but that at least makes some sense—if you’re playing sports, you’ll need deodorant. But no sport requires a spritz of fragrant oil to the neck or body—with the possible exception of wrestling, where you can be extra polite to the dude who’s about to put you in a headlock.

These sporty man smells now represent 4.3 percent of the market. The top seller, according to NPD, is One Sport from Dolce & Gabbana. From its official description: “a fresh, clean fragrance with light and energetic top notes accompanied by an unmistakable Mediterranean aroma of rosemary, the freshness of water and saltiness of the sea.” In other words: exactly what hockey pads smell like.

Pleats and Thank You

Pleating, in various iterations, unfurled as a keynote trend this season. Alexander Wang, for example, offered boxy swatches on miniskirts in New York. Also crimped in Manhattan: Victoria Beckham‘s peekaboo accordion creases. And, in Paris, Phoebe Philo caused a stir with loads of narrow corrugations at Céline. Yet where these designers skewed toward traditional folding, a trio of labels proposed a fancier twist on the technique for Spring ’14 via intricate pleats that mimicked ruffles.

At Delpozo, creative director Josep Font’s barley-yellow trousers, which boasted an arc of frilled pin-tucks, were a standout in his soft, painterly collection. In Paris, Dries Van Noten opened his show with a quiet white frock, the seams of which were embellished with whorls of gilded fabric. Bottega Veneta’s Tomas Maier, too, employed creased ruffles in his Spring ’14 lineup. One dress in particular—a gray-green number vertically veined in bow-like folds—was particularly striking. “I wanted to add texture and dimension in an unusual way,” Maier told Style.com. “The monochrome color, combined with the movement of the pleats, creates this effect.” To construct the garment, Maier and his team blended cotton with a vegetable fiber called ramie, which possesses malleable characteristics akin to copper. The result was a tactile sartorial sculpture.

Jen Kao Shutters 6-Year-Old Label

It's a disappointing day for Jen Kao fans. Kao is the NYC-based designer who recently opened her spring 2014 show by bringing two fluffy hound dogs on the runway, if you recall. But theatrics and catwalk shows aside, Kao has been a popular designer since she emerged on the scene six years ago, selling her feminine, artistic threads at boutiques and online sites like Owen NYC, Satine in Los Angeles, Shopbop, and Moda Operandi.

Unfortunately, her exit is due to health reasons, according to a company spokeswoman who talked to WWD, and her spring line won't be produced, making resort her last (buy it in stores come November 30). It is said that about 25 people who worked for Kao will be affected by this shuttering.

"Jen Kao always makes pieces that stand out. Whether it is her signature cutouts in unexpected ways, or her amazing leather pieces, she knows how to design for a city woman with kick-ass style," said Owen NYC's owner Phillip Salem via WWD. "It makes me sad to see Jen Kao shut down for a little, but I am hoping to see her make a huge comeback after this hiatus."

China’s E-commerce Giants Offer Opportunity for Entrepreneurs

JIAXING, China —  “The year 2013 will be remembered as the one in which China surpassed the US as the world’s largest digital retail market,” wrote the author of a report released by Bain & Company, a consulting firm, in August 2013, noting the country’s 564 million Internet users and 242 million e-shoppers. “Online retailing already totals 6 percent of all purchases,” continued the report. Meanwhile, in the apparel sector, e-commerce sales make up an even greater slice of the overall pie: around 13 percent, according to estimates by iResearch.

But for the most part, Chinese e-commerce is dominated by a few domestic giants, including Taobao, Vancl, M18 and JingDong. Indeed, the top five players control 65 percent of China’s online retail market, according to Atelier Paribas. In fact, Taobao alone — which consists of Taobao Marketplace, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace that is China’s answer to Ebay, and Tmall, a business-to-consumer retail site on which brands can open and operate their own e-commerce stores — accounts for over 50 percent of all online retail spending.

Words of the Wild

Crusader is as much of a job descriptor for Vivienne Westwood as fashion designer. And among her agendas, no cause resonates more acutely than her crusade to fight climate change. For Spring ’14, the designer sent out models in plastered-and-fractured makeup at Vivienne Westwood Red Label, the effect of which she likened to animals being “trapped” in the headlights. One look, a strapless brocade dress in pale gold and lavender, topped a ratty T-shirt that read “Climate.” Here, the message rang loud and clear. Moreover, Westwood gave out pre-addressed postcards to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, instructing editors to write down their own ecological apprehensions.

Nicholas Kirkwood’s Spring Escape

Nicholas Kirkwood has never been to Morocco, but for Spring ’14, he’s in a Marrakech state of mind. High-perched styles include lacy, laser-cut leathers and raffia heels in bright orange with fuchsia details that play with a cool seventies sports feel, while a new line of super-soft moccasins in hot colors seems to point to bright horizons. But the designer’s not headed for sunny climes anytime soon: “The industry doesn’t really let you do that anymore—as soon as I’m done with this collection, I’m already late for pre-collection!” That and Kirkwood’s newly signed partnership with LVMH (“They’re the best partner you could dream of,” he said) will keep him plenty busy. On the agenda: more staff, more shops, and more smart day options, like his first thong sandal and a cork-sole moccasin that picks up on elements of the men’s collection. He’s also gearing up to “capture fashion in midheight”—to that end, he has just secured the patent to his signature triangular heel. The blowout vacation will just have to wait.