Fashion Blog

Turns out Versace is going to launch its mobile phone on the basis of ModeLabs – a French company which produces phones for Dior and Tag Heuer. Point taken – Versace wants to broaden its product range to almost everything that can be considered as luxury or fashion.

But here comes the disappointment. None of the phones produced by fashion houses together with mobile manufacturers can be considered as luxury or fashion. There’s just a brand name working out for these phones. Ok, let’s be honest, some of the such-named fashion phones have pretty designs but technically they are some years far from what is considered a modern phone nowadays. So why to produce an oldie one? And speaking about design I do remember Nokia 7270 phone in official Versace design which was a bit too much of Versace. Golden prints and medouse.. Who needs this on the phone?!

If fashion phone is technically approved it looks awful, simple awful, as last Giorgio Armani phone. To make money  is the only reason why those phones are produced. But may be at the point when fashion houses decide that they need to launch a mobile phone they need to have sort of respect and thinking about their permanent customer? Does Mr. Giorgio Armani really believes that the one who purchases his dresses and bags will want that phone? Do Dolce&Gabbana think that if I do have plenty of their really gorgeous clothes I will buy this silly Jalou phone? Am I supposed to be a 5 year old mentally? I don’t think so.

So, hopefully Versace phone will be a whole different story, but I have my doubts there. Fingers crossed.

D.K.

This year the French house Prunier contnues its collaboration with Caviar House and the house of Yves Saint Laurent to produce a limited edition caviar boxes designed with Yves Saint Laurent drawings he traditionally made for New Year’s cards. Started in 2006 this collaboration continues to exist even after designer’s death.

Usually such collaborations are sort of cute and you always want to buy something but this one seems very awkward to me. It’s useless to fashion but as many things it’s obviously created to earn more money and to make the caviar more sellable.

Have you ever seen Lanvin dolls? Aren’t they cute? I adore them, they are lovely, they are fashionable, they are gorgeous. As much as I adore Lanvin dolls I adore Alber Elbaz collections – dresses, bags, skirts, even bags with those dolls prints. You can enjoy yourself at every age with Lanvin. Alber Elbaz is a man behind all the beauty from Lanvin. I don’t where his inspirations come from and at some point I don’t care because he exactly knows what women want.

He knows as well how fashion is important for french people and how they want to make every little thing in their lives fashionable. You want it – you get it. La Poste is used in France so often for so many reasons: to communicate with banks, social systems, even your university. Everything is decided by letters. Even to pay your subway year-ticket you have to write somewhere. So, what could be made fashionable conducted to the postal system? Stamps!

Alber Elbaz designed these stunning stamps for La Poste, as part of Lanvin’s 120th anniversary. They’ll be available next year and I’m looking forward till I get at least one.

What do you think you see now? Created for a special event happening once a year, it’s Christmas tree!

But this tree is special. Why is that? It’s a Christmas tree created by John Galliano and it has appeared in Claridge’s 5 star hotel in London today.

I can’t say that it is an actual Christmas tree as we used to it, but it’s sooo fashionable and great!

Saks 5th Avenue in New York displays Louis Vuitton winter garden to promote Cruise 2010 collection.

Isn’t it absurd? Certainly with winter cold we want to be back to spring again and see blooming flowers but as even Christmas hasn’t knocked to the door yet it’s a bit early. Even if I’m on my way to islands on winter holidays I prefer to feel the time and enjoy winter displays as long as I can.

Nor that those displays aren’t fabulous they are as almost everything created by the house of Louis Vuitton, but fashion is becoming way too fast in changing seasons.

While politicians and ecomists are trying to solve regional economic problems to cope with crisis, consumers all over the world are coping with crisis themselves by shopping. It’s an ackward, but it works, especially for such companies as Hermes whose audience was never close to millions of people.

Hermes sales expanded by 10% at current exchange rates and by nearly 5% at constant exchange rates in the third quarter. 13% down at constant exchange rate compared to June (22%) was smaller.

In order not to bore with numbers and efficiency, it’s better to sum up and tell the main figures that shows the results. Sales for the nine months ended 30 September came to €1,327.1m. Compared to the first nine months of 2008 there’s been a 1.4% growth this year. Sales generated by the Group’s stores advanced by 10% at constant exchange rates, driven by growth in all regions other than Japan (down 7%). It seems unexpected because Asia is one of the biggest markets for luxury companies these days. More or less Japan differs form all other countries in Asia. That’s why the rest of Asia marked impressive growth (35%). It’s explained by expansion in China and Korea where Hermes actively developed its distribution network.

Ironic, the region (Asia) which provides the world with the biggest part of counterfeit products now bits the rest of the world with rise in real luxury sales.

you can find the detailed financial information at  hermes.com

Louis Vuitton cases can be considered as something useless by the mass audience, while in fact they are real masterpieces of crafsmenship and creativity.

This time the house of Louis Vuitton asked six personalities: the designer Marc Jacobs, the photographer Annie Leibovitz, the chef du El Bulli restaurant Ferran Adrià, the artist Damien Hirst, the musician and composer Gustavo Santaolalla, and Patrick-Louis Vuitton, the head of Louis Vuitton’s Special Orders department, to design the piece that embodies their savoir-faire.

The collection is created for 150 anniversary of the company’s unique combination of tradition and innovation. Louis Vuitton will celebrate “l’Excellence du Savoir-Faire”, by partnering with some of today’s iconic figures who themselves possess a rare expertise. This collection is demonstration not only of talent and creativity but also of production secrets that for many years have been Louis Vuitton’s distinctive feature.

All cases and bags in the collection are created by Patrick-Louis Vuitton and six legendary creators.

You’ll be able to have your own “Annie Leibovitz” bga or “Marc Jacobs” case through the department of Special Orders at the house of Louis Vuitton. It can be alligator skin bag or classy canvas one. The “Damian Hirst” case will be on permanent display in Louis Vuitton boutique in London which opens in 2010.

In times of crisis evrybody was looking for a huge luxury-market decline. Too many people started to feel guilty for buying enormously expensive products, among those you could barely find a relly useful one. Nevertheless new season has brought lots of unbelievably expensive clothes and accessories that are not just to face the crisis but to announce that in times of a crisis nobody is “too rich to buy cheap things”.

At the luxury meeting a week before famous designer Karl Lagerfeld who is undoubtedly is one the most important people said: “Clothes are made to be worn” (WWD). Now when there are very few groups of people in the world who can spend as much money as they like, everybody pays attention to the quality of clothes and accessories and their commodity. Today we are really ready to pay lots of money only for things that will serve us a little longer.

We want it all: the quality, the service, the creativity, the exclusivity. We’ve been paying for basckets full of illusions for quite long time, now we want our money back. At this stance there is nothing to surprise of, when luxury companies try to find a way to create exclusive high-quality things. Eventually when we want something that won’t last forever we’d better go to H&M and buy a jacket for $200 than $2000. When nothing is different why do we have to pay more?!

Giorgio Armani launches his third mobile phone coopting with Samsung. The firsr two weren’t that impressive, especially when you realize that his touch-phone is a copy to Prada phone made on LG platform. The new one Giorgio Armani phone is a total surprise for me. With all my respect to mister Armani and his significant role in the world of fashion, he’d better find a better company for making his brand-name phones or stop doing it at all.

It’s obvious that this haute couture phone is copied fron Nokia N97 phone which was released recently. Take a look.

Whatever name is written on the phone the disgn and technology of it stolen from Nokia, so I’d better have original Nokia phone than fahe Armani-Samsung one.

Champagne makers Piper Heidsieck have worked with master shoe maker Christian Louboutin to create a unique box set: “Le Rituel” Box Set. The set consists of a bottle of champagne and a glass shoe designed by Christian Louboutin.

The project has been named Le Rituel after a French ritual popular in the 1880’s where one would drink champagne from a woman’s shoe.

The box set will be exclusively available through colette from October 26th.

Beautiful, though this glass doesn’t look comfortable to drink from. It’s more like expensive souvenir for someone’s bar shelf.

To support the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo (Italy) Coca-Cola is collaborating with 8 italian fashion designers – Donatella Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Anna Molinari for Blumarine, Veronica Etro, Silvia Venturini for Fendi, Consuelo Castiglioni for Marni, Angela Missoni and Rossella Jardini for Moschino. Everyone of these great women has created a fabulous bottle design for Coca-Cola light.

You can easily fint out which one is Versace, Fendi, Etro, etc. Designers took famous motives of their brands to make a beautiful bottle.

Coca-Cola is always trying to make something special for holidays and different special events such as sport world cups, but such a collaboration as it takes part is more exiting for me. I remeber last year when Roberto Cavalli designed the bottle for Diet Coke in Italy and then Ashley Isham made the design for Coca-Cola light cans in Singapore, and Patricia Field with her City collection of Coco-Cola Diet bottles. It was fun.

Before I was not sure that it is an actual art, but now I know that it is an actual contemporary art. So now I’m going to collect these bottles.

Look, blooming Blumarine design and famous Versace jellyfish-symbol or ETRO ornament  and Alberta Ferreti caramel wavy style.

In fact Coca-Cola will earn a lot of money from selling designer bottles, hopefully it will reach its aim. While I’m hoping we can buy these bottles in other countries. Unfortunately, there will be only few shops chosen to sell them worldwide.

Watch the video, it is unique and lovely.

Read more…

You remeber annual Evian collaboration with famous fashion designers – Christian Lacroix (2008), Jean Paul Gaultier (2009). This year is Paul Smith, one of fashion designers who’s lige is about bright colours as you can see in his brand stripes.

Paul Smith’s Evian glass bottle is covered with colourful stripes around the top. The stripes are printed with organic ink, as Paul Smith tells in his personal blog.

You can see in the video below where Paul has taken his inspiration for his design for Evian bottle and see how the AD was shot.

Drinking Evian this year will be so much fun! Let’s be child-like as Paul Smith is himself and don’take it too serious

You can make your order (the function will be available soon) and find out the details on Paul Smith for Evian site.

The sexy English model Kate Moss is the icon for Yves Saint Laurent’s new fragrance Parisienne.

The commercial in black and white was just introduced in France by the famous maison and the claim, “living and loving, in the moment!”, reflects the romance and carpe diem spirit of Paris.

Kate Moss was the perfect muse to illustrate the message of the fragrance.

Could you dream about it?!

Automobile designer Jinyoung Jo from South Korea created Chanel car concept and named it Chanel Fiole ( ” bottle” in French).

Whether Karl Lagerfeld notices it?

That’s how the Chanel car prototype looks like: