Sofia Richie's New York Fashion Week Diary: What I Loved At NYFW - Hollywood Life
The seriously stylish teen helped cover the shows during New York Fashion Week, right from the front row — read on & WATCH for more from Sofia’s stylish week as our Fashion Week contributor.
DKNY was my first show of the week, which was a lot of fun. The energy of the room was great. Everyone was super excited to see the collection and there was a really cool vibe at the show. I also got to hang with my friend, Bella — and best of all I got to meet Donna Karan — life is really a blessing!
Sofia Richie’s Fashion Week Diary:
Tommy Hilfiger was such an awesome show. He’s a lovely person and the production of his show was super entertaining, like a mini Super Bowl — for style. Go Tommy!!!
Diane Von Furstenberg was just stellar…stellar. I mean, COME ON, (Hello, it is DVF!). The collection was just so elegant and classy, it is really hard to top that. I was also so happy just to be around Diane and her family — it doesn’t hurt that her granddaughter is my dear friend. After the show I went backstage to congratulate Diane on the amazing collection.
When it comes to cool, Marc Jacobs is where it is at. The Marc Jacobs show was so dope, the atmosphere was just incredible, the models were on point, the music was intense — everything about it was so great.
Jeremy Scott was so lively and colorful, wow — it felt like the crowd was a part of the show and everyone was literally at the edge of their seat, it was so freaking packed but so much fun.
My hairstyle is getting SO much attention, especially at New York Fashion Week — it is kind of crazy but I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty happy right now.
Getting to dress up in one great look after another and catch up with all my friends at the shows was so much fun — and I can’t wait to experiment with some of the Fall 2015 trends.
Sofia Richie
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1AgeutT
Sofia Richie's New York Fashion Week Diary: What I Loved At NYFW - Hollywood Life
The seriously stylish teen helped cover the shows during New York Fashion Week, right from the front row — read on & WATCH for more from Sofia’s stylish week as our Fashion Week contributor.
DKNY was my first show of the week, which was a lot of fun. The energy of the room was great. Everyone was super excited to see the collection and there was a really cool vibe at the show. I also got to hang with my friend, Bella — and best of all I got to meet Donna Karan — life is really a blessing!
Sofia Richie’s Fashion Week Diary:
Tommy Hilfiger was such an awesome show. He’s a lovely person and the production of his show was super entertaining, like a mini Super Bowl — for style. Go Tommy!!!
Diane Von Furstenberg was just stellar…stellar. I mean, COME ON, (Hello, it is DVF!). The collection was just so elegant and classy, it is really hard to top that. I was also so happy just to be around Diane and her family — it doesn’t hurt that her granddaughter is my dear friend. After the show I went backstage to congratulate Diane on the amazing collection.
When it comes to cool, Marc Jacobs is where it is at. The Marc Jacobs show was so dope, the atmosphere was just incredible, the models were on point, the music was intense — everything about it was so great.
Jeremy Scott was so lively and colorful, wow — it felt like the crowd was a part of the show and everyone was literally at the edge of their seat, it was so freaking packed but so much fun.
My hairstyle is getting SO much attention, especially at New York Fashion Week — it is kind of crazy but I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty happy right now.
Getting to dress up in one great look after another and catch up with all my friends at the shows was so much fun — and I can’t wait to experiment with some of the Fall 2015 trends.
Sofia Richie
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1Blv8hh
Fashion still playing catch-up to "plus-size" industry - CBS News
With an estimated two-thirds of American women falling into the plus-size category, the demand for fashionable clothing to serve this multi-billion dollar market has never been greater. The public profile of larger women got a major boost in January as 29-year-old Tess Holliday became the first plus-size model signed to a major agency. Still, women in the plus-size range said finding clothes that fit isn't as easy as it should be, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.
In a showroom in midtown Manhattan, women shop for clothes made especially for them. Everything, from tight-fitting dresses to fringe, two-piece bathing suits ranges in size from 14 to 24 -- also known as the plus-sizes.
Designer Monif Clarke launched the Monif C. line 10 years ago. Back then, she had no fashion training, so she took her ideas to a design team that brought them to life.
Before her brand got on the scene, she said marketers would use words like "slimming," and "lose 10pounds with this dress."
"And I didn't want that. I wanted to be sexy and curvaceous. I wanted my clothes to fit," Clarke said.
When Clarke tried to sell her trendy plus-size designs to retailers, the response was always the same.
"They would say, 'You know if it was in straight size, we would put it on the rack, but because it's in plus-size, no one's gonna buy it,'" Clarke said.
Clarke took her business online. It was a convertible dress that launched her sales, but it's interaction with clients on social media like Facebook and Instagram that's helped sustain it. Last year her revenue was upward of $1 million. Her dresses costs about $125 on average.
"This is a customer that's vocal and she knows what she wants and she's not hiding behind the black and the brown and the slimming," Clarke said.
That customer includes about 64 percent of American women who fall into the plus-size category, but account for only 17 percent of purchases. While more of them are appearing in ad campaigns, red carpets and even the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, experts say plus-sized women are still viewed as having negative perceptions about their bodies.
"Culturally they've been made to feel like they shouldn't splurge on themselves because all they need to do is lose that 20 pounds and then 'Aren't you going to wish that you'd waited until you bought that?'" New York Times style editor Katherine Rosman said.
But at photo shoots for Plus Model Magazine, the opposite is true. There, the model celebrates her size without holding back. Editor Madeline Jones said the online publication is popular because it addresses what everyone else is ignoring.
"Everyone is kind of shying away from the term 'plus-size.' Plus-size models do not want to be called plus-size. Plus-size brands do not want to be called plus-size. In the meantime, you want our plus-size dollars, but you don't want to be called plus-size. That's a problem," Jones said.
Jones said that problem is why high-end fashion designers have been hesitant to create plus-size lines. For designers like Clarke, business is booming -- it's already doubled from last year.
She said the same retailers that laughed at her idea initially, have come back with interest.
"It was kind of like, 'What do you mean they want to show their bodies instead of hide their bodies?' And so a lot of them are calling now and say, 'You know, can we work together?' and I think that bodes well for where the brand is going to go," Clarke said.
Despite the fact that major retailers like Target and Old Navy now carry plus-size lines, it's the world of high fashion where many advocates say the deficit remains.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1vBhe9S
London Fashion Week 2015: From catwalk to High Street - BBC News
Last updated at 19:03 ET
Inside London Fashion Week
Twice a year, London's grand neoclassical Somerset House, welcomes a tumult of fashion designers and their models dressed in their finest gladrags.
The courtyard becomes the centre of London Fashion Week - a far cry from the building's sober past as home to the Inland Revenue.
This year sees the event's 61st year, during which more than 250 designers will showcase their collections for autumn and winter to a global audience.
For those outside the fashion industry, it can be difficult to appreciate why this week is so important. Fashion has long been criticised as frivolous and superficial, dictating trends that are swiftly cast aside.
Indeed, watching the crowds teetering on vertiginous heels, heads topped with designer sunglasses, arms toting handbags and hands clutching smartphones, it is easy to understand why.
Yet while it may look like a big party to outsiders, the week is a crucial one for the industry.
"It is incredibly important because it's the showcase of the very best of British businesses to an international audience," says Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council.
"The British fashion industry is exceeding the current economic growth we are seeing in the UK - because we are exporting all over the world."
The fashion sector plays a significant role in the UK economy - it generates £26bn for the UK each year, rakes in £10.7bn from consumers and supports almost 800,000 jobs.
London Fashion Week is a crucial element in this, as orders of approximately £100m are placed during the five days - and the shows are watched online by audiences in 190 countries worldwide.
Trickle-down trends
The spectacular clothes worn by models on the catwalk can appear impractical, unaffordable and sometimes ridiculous. So will they really affect what we wear, come September?
“Start Quote
We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate”
End Quote Carla Buzasi WGSN
Traditionally, the idea has been that the clothes and styles adopted by the richest in society eventually filter through and influence the rest of us, the so-called "trickle-down" theory - first put forward by the American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen, in 1898.
It is true that since the social upheavals of the 1960s, an inverse process has evolved, whereby designers have been increasingly inspired by the clothes people wear on the streets.
Yet although the trickle-down process might not be as clear-cut as it once was - when designers dictated the trends and people slavishly followed - it is still in evidence today.
"The High Street is very much influenced by what they see at London Fashion Week," says Carla Buzasi, global chief content officer at the trend forecasters WGSN.
"We have a global network of experts, their job is to have their eyes and ears out - all the apparel brands in the FTSE 500 are WGSN subscribers."
Internet catalyst
"Although you may not wear the exact look that you see coming down the runway on a model, you will pick up little things. There's always something reflected in the High Street that comes through from London Fashion Week," says fashion journalist Hilary Alexander.
“Start Quote
I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people - I'm interested in actually having an influence”
End Quote Jasper Conran
"A few seasons ago, Simone Rocha showed these pearl collars on her dresses which would have sold for hundreds of pounds, but within weeks up and down the High Street pearl collars and trims appeared," she says.
"We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate," says Carla Buzasi. "What you see on the catwalks is about press and the designer brand.
"For example, Mary Katrantzou does these wild prints on structured dresses. The prints influence the High Street but you'd be less likely to see that kind of structure carry through."
The internet has acted as a catalyst to speed up this process and democratise fashion even further.
Collections that were once viewed only by the ticketed few appear online later the same day and on social media, instantaneously.
Catwalk to High Street
As everyone can now see what is being shown, this has meant that the procedure of translating catwalk designs to the High Street has vastly accelerated.
"In years gone by it could take six months to a year for runway trends to hit the High Street. Now it can be as short as three weeks," explains Carla Buzasi.
"London Fashion Week is really important because it offers such a wealth of inspiration," says Zeba Lowe, head of fashion at the online retailer Asos.
"A couple of seasons ago we saw Marcus Almeida doing ripped denim and the idea of those raw hems influenced how we might have approached denim," she adds.
"We might see an amazing catwalk show and a colour that could work for the season, or a specific theme might come through that we take inspiration from," says H&M's Claire Wakeman.
Designer approaches
Many designers are keen for their ideas to be popularised.
Anthony Cuthbertson, creative director at Australian fashion label sass & bide, says he is flattered when he sees his designs re-interpreted on the High Street.
"It's great that we can filtrate the looks down. It's important that someone who's buying a dress for $8,000 can still buy the same dress in a High Street store for $120."
Designer Jasper Conran agrees: "If it's a good idea, why wouldn't you make 2,000 of them? I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people. I'm interested in actually having an influence."
In recent years designers have been collaborating with High Street retailers to create affordable versions of their own designs.
Conran, who was one of the first to do so, says: "That's why I did it myself. You might as well get in there first and be really good at it, rather than second rate."
High Street retailers say they benefit, too. Claire Wakeman at H&M says that its designer collaborations "are hugely successful" for the retailer.
"We started in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld and last year, Alexander Wang. It shows our customers that they can have access to designer clothes at an accessible price," she says.
Fashion influence
Although it may be preferable to imagine that we are the agents of our own sartorial lives, it is undeniable that how we choose to dress ourselves each morning is the result of countless hours of trend forecasters, industry analysis and designer innovation that has trickled down from the catwalk to the High Street.
As Hilary Alexander says: "When we get up in the morning and decide what to wear, we're making a conscious fashion decision, whether we realise it or not."
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1FwjYoN
Gucci's Fall 2015 Collection at Milan Fashion Week - New York Times (blog)
The live stream has ended. Thank you for your interest.
Watch the live stream on Gucci’s web site.
The latest women’s collection from Gucci at Milan Fashion Week.
At Gucci, a New Philosophy
Alessandro Michele's first show as creative director was not your grandmother's (or even last season's) Gucci. Except actually it was.
At Gucci, a Messy Exit for One Designer Opens an Unlikely Door for Another
The luxury brand ousted its chief executive, Patrizio di Marco, and his partner, Frida Giannini, its creative director. Her replacement left the fashion world asking, “Who?”
Follow our Fashion Week coverage on Twitter and Instagram, and find us on Pinterest here.
Interested in Fashion Week? Follow the conversation at http://ift.tt/1JcfnOR.
Complete Coverage: Women’s Fashion Week Fall 2015
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1FwjY8n
Kelly Osbourne Threatens To Quit 'Fashion Police' Over Zendaya Controversy - Huffington Post
Kelly Osbourne's days as a co-host on E!'s "Fashion Police" might be over in light of Giuliana Rancic's offensive comments about Zendaya's Oscars hairstyle.
After Rancic remarked on-air that Zendaya, who had her hair in locs for the awards show, "smells like patchouli oil or weed," Zendaya responded with a powerful open letter blasting the "Fashion Police" co-host for her ignorance. Osbourne, too, condemned the comments, speaking candidly on Twitter about the incident:
Zendaya has has been a guest on "Fashion Police" in the past, and she and Osbourne attended the Christian Siriano show together during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 14:
After Rancic apologized to the "Replay" singer both on Twitter and on E! News on Tuesday, Zendaya posted another open letter on her Instagram account Wednesday, writing that she has accepted Rancic's apology and hopes that others will, too. Perhaps Osbourne will follow suit.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1FwjXBr
Fashion still playing catch-up to "plus-size" industry - CBS News
With an estimated two-thirds of American women falling into the plus-size category, the demand for fashionable clothing to serve this multi-billion dollar market has never been greater. The public profile of larger women got a major boost in January as 29-year-old Tess Holliday became the first plus-size model signed to a major agency. Still, women in the plus-size range said finding clothes that fit isn't as easy as it should be, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.
In a showroom in midtown Manhattan, women shop for clothes made especially for them. Everything, from tight-fitting dresses to fringe, two-piece bathing suits ranges in size from 14 to 24 -- also known as the plus-sizes.
Designer Monif Clarke launched the Monif C. line 10 years ago. Back then, she had no fashion training, so she took her ideas to a design team that brought them to life.
Before her brand got on the scene, she said marketers would use words like "slimming," and "lose 10pounds with this dress."
"And I didn't want that. I wanted to be sexy and curvaceous. I wanted my clothes to fit," Clarke said.
When Clarke tried to sell her trendy plus-size designs to retailers, the response was always the same.
"They would say, 'You know if it was in straight size, we would put it on the rack, but because it's in plus-size, no one's gonna buy it,'" Clarke said.
Clarke took her business online. It was a convertible dress that launched her sales, but it's interaction with clients on social media like Facebook and Instagram that's helped sustain it. Last year her revenue was upward of $1 million. Her dresses costs about $125 on average.
"This is a customer that's vocal and she knows what she wants and she's not hiding behind the black and the brown and the slimming," Clarke said.
That customer includes about 64 percent of American women who fall into the plus-size category, but account for only 17 percent of purchases. While more of them are appearing in ad campaigns, red carpets and even the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, experts say plus-sized women are still viewed as having negative perceptions about their bodies.
"Culturally they've been made to feel like they shouldn't splurge on themselves because all they need to do is lose that 20 pounds and then 'Aren't you going to wish that you'd waited until you bought that?'" New York Times style editor Katherine Rosman said.
But at photo shoots for Plus Model Magazine, the opposite is true. There, the model celebrates her size without holding back. Editor Madeline Jones said the online publication is popular because it addresses what everyone else is ignoring.
"Everyone is kind of shying away from the term 'plus-size.' Plus-size models do not want to be called plus-size. Plus-size brands do not want to be called plus-size. In the meantime, you want our plus-size dollars, but you don't want to be called plus-size. That's a problem," Jones said.
Jones said that problem is why high-end fashion designers have been hesitant to create plus-size lines. For designers like Clarke, business is booming -- it's already doubled from last year.
She said the same retailers that laughed at her idea initially, have come back with interest.
"It was kind of like, 'What do you mean they want to show their bodies instead of hide their bodies?' And so a lot of them are calling now and say, 'You know, can we work together?' and I think that bodes well for where the brand is going to go," Clarke said.
Despite the fact that major retailers like Target and Old Navy now carry plus-size lines, it's the world of high fashion where many advocates say the deficit remains.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1A9RCfv
London Fashion Week 2015: From catwalk to High Street - BBC News
Last updated at 19:03 ET
Inside London Fashion Week
Twice a year, London's grand neoclassical Somerset House, welcomes a tumult of fashion designers and their models dressed in their finest gladrags.
The courtyard becomes the centre of London Fashion Week - a far cry from the building's sober past as home to the Inland Revenue.
This year sees the event's 61st year, during which more than 250 designers will showcase their collections for autumn and winter to a global audience.
For those outside the fashion industry, it can be difficult to appreciate why this week is so important. Fashion has long been criticised as frivolous and superficial, dictating trends that are swiftly cast aside.
Indeed, watching the crowds teetering on vertiginous heels, heads topped with designer sunglasses, arms toting handbags and hands clutching smartphones, it is easy to understand why.
Yet while it may look like a big party to outsiders, the week is a crucial one for the industry.
"It is incredibly important because it's the showcase of the very best of British businesses to an international audience," says Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council.
"The British fashion industry is exceeding the current economic growth we are seeing in the UK - because we are exporting all over the world."
The fashion sector plays a significant role in the UK economy - it generates £26bn for the UK each year, rakes in £10.7bn from consumers and supports almost 800,000 jobs.
London Fashion Week is a crucial element in this, as orders of approximately £100m are placed during the five days - and the shows are watched online by audiences in 190 countries worldwide.
Trickle-down trends
The spectacular clothes worn by models on the catwalk can appear impractical, unaffordable and sometimes ridiculous. So will they really affect what we wear, come September?
“Start Quote
We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate”
End Quote Carla Buzasi WGSN
Traditionally, the idea has been that the clothes and styles adopted by the richest in society eventually filter through and influence the rest of us, the so-called "trickle-down" theory - first put forward by the American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen, in 1898.
It is true that since the social upheavals of the 1960s, an inverse process has evolved, whereby designers have been increasingly inspired by the clothes people wear on the streets.
Yet although the trickle-down process might not be as clear-cut as it once was - when designers dictated the trends and people slavishly followed - it is still in evidence today.
"The High Street is very much influenced by what they see at London Fashion Week," says Carla Buzasi, global chief content officer at the trend forecasters WGSN.
"We have a global network of experts, their job is to have their eyes and ears out - all the apparel brands in the FTSE 500 are WGSN subscribers."
Internet catalyst
"Although you may not wear the exact look that you see coming down the runway on a model, you will pick up little things. There's always something reflected in the High Street that comes through from London Fashion Week," says fashion journalist Hilary Alexander.
“Start Quote
I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people - I'm interested in actually having an influence”
End Quote Jasper Conran
"A few seasons ago, Simone Rocha showed these pearl collars on her dresses which would have sold for hundreds of pounds, but within weeks up and down the High Street pearl collars and trims appeared," she says.
"We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate," says Carla Buzasi. "What you see on the catwalks is about press and the designer brand.
"For example, Mary Katrantzou does these wild prints on structured dresses. The prints influence the High Street but you'd be less likely to see that kind of structure carry through."
The internet has acted as a catalyst to speed up this process and democratise fashion even further.
Collections that were once viewed only by the ticketed few appear online later the same day and on social media, instantaneously.
Catwalk to High Street
As everyone can now see what is being shown, this has meant that the procedure of translating catwalk designs to the High Street has vastly accelerated.
"In years gone by it could take six months to a year for runway trends to hit the High Street. Now it can be as short as three weeks," explains Carla Buzasi.
"London Fashion Week is really important because it offers such a wealth of inspiration," says Zeba Lowe, head of fashion at the online retailer Asos.
"A couple of seasons ago we saw Marcus Almeida doing ripped denim and the idea of those raw hems influenced how we might have approached denim," she adds.
"We might see an amazing catwalk show and a colour that could work for the season, or a specific theme might come through that we take inspiration from," says H&M's Claire Wakeman.
Designer approaches
Many designers are keen for their ideas to be popularised.
Anthony Cuthbertson, creative director at Australian fashion label sass & bide, says he is flattered when he sees his designs re-interpreted on the High Street.
"It's great that we can filtrate the looks down. It's important that someone who's buying a dress for $8,000 can still buy the same dress in a High Street store for $120."
Designer Jasper Conran agrees: "If it's a good idea, why wouldn't you make 2,000 of them? I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people. I'm interested in actually having an influence."
In recent years designers have been collaborating with High Street retailers to create affordable versions of their own designs.
Conran, who was one of the first to do so, says: "That's why I did it myself. You might as well get in there first and be really good at it, rather than second rate."
High Street retailers say they benefit, too. Claire Wakeman at H&M says that its designer collaborations "are hugely successful" for the retailer.
"We started in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld and last year, Alexander Wang. It shows our customers that they can have access to designer clothes at an accessible price," she says.
Fashion influence
Although it may be preferable to imagine that we are the agents of our own sartorial lives, it is undeniable that how we choose to dress ourselves each morning is the result of countless hours of trend forecasters, industry analysis and designer innovation that has trickled down from the catwalk to the High Street.
As Hilary Alexander says: "When we get up in the morning and decide what to wear, we're making a conscious fashion decision, whether we realise it or not."
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1A9RBZ0
Gucci's Fall 2015 Collection at Milan Fashion Week - New York Times (blog)
The live stream has ended. Thank you for your interest.
Watch the live stream on Gucci’s web site.
The latest women’s collection from Gucci at Milan Fashion Week.
At Gucci, a New Philosophy
Alessandro Michele's first show as creative director was not your grandmother's (or even last season's) Gucci. Except actually it was.
At Gucci, a Messy Exit for One Designer Opens an Unlikely Door for Another
The luxury brand ousted its chief executive, Patrizio di Marco, and his partner, Frida Giannini, its creative director. Her replacement left the fashion world asking, “Who?”
Follow our Fashion Week coverage on Twitter and Instagram, and find us on Pinterest here.
Interested in Fashion Week? Follow the conversation at http://ift.tt/1JcfnOR.
Complete Coverage: Women’s Fashion Week Fall 2015
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1A9RAo1
Kelly Osbourne Threatens To Quit 'Fashion Police' Over Zendaya Controversy - Huffington Post
Kelly Osbourne's days as a co-host on E!'s "Fashion Police" might be over in light of Giuliana Rancic's offensive comments about Zendaya's Oscars hairstyle.
After Rancic remarked on-air that Zendaya, who had her hair in locs for the awards show, "smells like patchouli oil or weed," Zendaya responded with a powerful open letter blasting the "Fashion Police" co-host for her ignorance. Osbourne, too, condemned the comments, speaking candidly on Twitter about the incident:
Zendaya has has been a guest on "Fashion Police" in the past, and she and Osbourne attended the Christian Siriano show together during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 14:
After Rancic apologized to the "Replay" singer both on Twitter and on E! News on Tuesday, Zendaya posted another open letter on her Instagram account Wednesday, writing that she has accepted Rancic's apology and hopes that others will, too. Perhaps Osbourne will follow suit.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1A9RA7u
Fashion still playing catch-up to "plus-size" industry - CBS News
With an estimated two-thirds of American women falling into the plus-size category, the demand for fashionable clothing to serve this multi-billion dollar market has never been greater. The public profile of larger women got a major boost in January as 29-year-old Tess Holliday became the first plus-size model signed to a major agency. Still, women in the plus-size range said finding clothes that fit isn't as easy as it should be, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.
In a showroom in midtown Manhattan, women shop for clothes made especially for them. Everything, from tight-fitting dresses to fringe, two-piece bathing suits ranges in size from 14 to 24 -- also known as the plus-sizes.
Designer Monif Clarke launched the Monif C. line 10 years ago. Back then, she had no fashion training, so she took her ideas to a design team that brought them to life.
Before her brand got on the scene, she said marketers would use words like "slimming," and "lose 10pounds with this dress."
"And I didn't want that. I wanted to be sexy and curvaceous. I wanted my clothes to fit," Clarke said.
When Clarke tried to sell her trendy plus-size designs to retailers, the response was always the same.
"They would say, 'You know if it was in straight size, we would put it on the rack, but because it's in plus-size, no one's gonna buy it,'" Clarke said.
Clarke took her business online. It was a convertible dress that launched her sales, but it's interaction with clients on social media like Facebook and Instagram that's helped sustain it. Last year her revenue was upward of $1 million. Her dresses costs about $125 on average.
"This is a customer that's vocal and she knows what she wants and she's not hiding behind the black and the brown and the slimming," Clarke said.
That customer includes about 64 percent of American women who fall into the plus-size category, but account for only 17 percent of purchases. While more of them are appearing in ad campaigns, red carpets and even the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, experts say plus-sized women are still viewed as having negative perceptions about their bodies.
"Culturally they've been made to feel like they shouldn't splurge on themselves because all they need to do is lose that 20 pounds and then 'Aren't you going to wish that you'd waited until you bought that?'" New York Times style editor Katherine Rosman said.
But at photo shoots for Plus Model Magazine, the opposite is true. There, the model celebrates her size without holding back. Editor Madeline Jones said the online publication is popular because it addresses what everyone else is ignoring.
"Everyone is kind of shying away from the term 'plus-size.' Plus-size models do not want to be called plus-size. Plus-size brands do not want to be called plus-size. In the meantime, you want our plus-size dollars, but you don't want to be called plus-size. That's a problem," Jones said.
Jones said that problem is why high-end fashion designers have been hesitant to create plus-size lines. For designers like Clarke, business is booming -- it's already doubled from last year.
She said the same retailers that laughed at her idea initially, have come back with interest.
"It was kind of like, 'What do you mean they want to show their bodies instead of hide their bodies?' And so a lot of them are calling now and say, 'You know, can we work together?' and I think that bodes well for where the brand is going to go," Clarke said.
Despite the fact that major retailers like Target and Old Navy now carry plus-size lines, it's the world of high fashion where many advocates say the deficit remains.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1JPwXZv
London Fashion Week 2015: From catwalk to High Street - BBC News
Last updated at 19:03 ET
Inside London Fashion Week
Twice a year, London's grand neoclassical Somerset House, welcomes a tumult of fashion designers and their models dressed in their finest gladrags.
The courtyard becomes the centre of London Fashion Week - a far cry from the building's sober past as home to the Inland Revenue.
This year sees the event's 61st year, during which more than 250 designers will showcase their collections for autumn and winter to a global audience.
For those outside the fashion industry, it can be difficult to appreciate why this week is so important. Fashion has long been criticised as frivolous and superficial, dictating trends that are swiftly cast aside.
Indeed, watching the crowds teetering on vertiginous heels, heads topped with designer sunglasses, arms toting handbags and hands clutching smartphones, it is easy to understand why.
Yet while it may look like a big party to outsiders, the week is a crucial one for the industry.
"It is incredibly important because it's the showcase of the very best of British businesses to an international audience," says Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council.
"The British fashion industry is exceeding the current economic growth we are seeing in the UK - because we are exporting all over the world."
The fashion sector plays a significant role in the UK economy - it generates £26bn for the UK each year, rakes in £10.7bn from consumers and supports almost 800,000 jobs.
London Fashion Week is a crucial element in this, as orders of approximately £100m are placed during the five days - and the shows are watched online by audiences in 190 countries worldwide.
Trickle-down trends
The spectacular clothes worn by models on the catwalk can appear impractical, unaffordable and sometimes ridiculous. So will they really affect what we wear, come September?
“Start Quote
We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate”
End Quote Carla Buzasi WGSN
Traditionally, the idea has been that the clothes and styles adopted by the richest in society eventually filter through and influence the rest of us, the so-called "trickle-down" theory - first put forward by the American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen, in 1898.
It is true that since the social upheavals of the 1960s, an inverse process has evolved, whereby designers have been increasingly inspired by the clothes people wear on the streets.
Yet although the trickle-down process might not be as clear-cut as it once was - when designers dictated the trends and people slavishly followed - it is still in evidence today.
"The High Street is very much influenced by what they see at London Fashion Week," says Carla Buzasi, global chief content officer at the trend forecasters WGSN.
"We have a global network of experts, their job is to have their eyes and ears out - all the apparel brands in the FTSE 500 are WGSN subscribers."
Internet catalyst
"Although you may not wear the exact look that you see coming down the runway on a model, you will pick up little things. There's always something reflected in the High Street that comes through from London Fashion Week," says fashion journalist Hilary Alexander.
“Start Quote
I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people - I'm interested in actually having an influence”
End Quote Jasper Conran
"A few seasons ago, Simone Rocha showed these pearl collars on her dresses which would have sold for hundreds of pounds, but within weeks up and down the High Street pearl collars and trims appeared," she says.
"We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate," says Carla Buzasi. "What you see on the catwalks is about press and the designer brand.
"For example, Mary Katrantzou does these wild prints on structured dresses. The prints influence the High Street but you'd be less likely to see that kind of structure carry through."
The internet has acted as a catalyst to speed up this process and democratise fashion even further.
Collections that were once viewed only by the ticketed few appear online later the same day and on social media, instantaneously.
Catwalk to High Street
As everyone can now see what is being shown, this has meant that the procedure of translating catwalk designs to the High Street has vastly accelerated.
"In years gone by it could take six months to a year for runway trends to hit the High Street. Now it can be as short as three weeks," explains Carla Buzasi.
"London Fashion Week is really important because it offers such a wealth of inspiration," says Zeba Lowe, head of fashion at the online retailer Asos.
"A couple of seasons ago we saw Marcus Almeida doing ripped denim and the idea of those raw hems influenced how we might have approached denim," she adds.
"We might see an amazing catwalk show and a colour that could work for the season, or a specific theme might come through that we take inspiration from," says H&M's Claire Wakeman.
Designer approaches
Many designers are keen for their ideas to be popularised.
Anthony Cuthbertson, creative director at Australian fashion label sass & bide, says he is flattered when he sees his designs re-interpreted on the High Street.
"It's great that we can filtrate the looks down. It's important that someone who's buying a dress for $8,000 can still buy the same dress in a High Street store for $120."
Designer Jasper Conran agrees: "If it's a good idea, why wouldn't you make 2,000 of them? I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people. I'm interested in actually having an influence."
In recent years designers have been collaborating with High Street retailers to create affordable versions of their own designs.
Conran, who was one of the first to do so, says: "That's why I did it myself. You might as well get in there first and be really good at it, rather than second rate."
High Street retailers say they benefit, too. Claire Wakeman at H&M says that its designer collaborations "are hugely successful" for the retailer.
"We started in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld and last year, Alexander Wang. It shows our customers that they can have access to designer clothes at an accessible price," she says.
Fashion influence
Although it may be preferable to imagine that we are the agents of our own sartorial lives, it is undeniable that how we choose to dress ourselves each morning is the result of countless hours of trend forecasters, industry analysis and designer innovation that has trickled down from the catwalk to the High Street.
As Hilary Alexander says: "When we get up in the morning and decide what to wear, we're making a conscious fashion decision, whether we realise it or not."
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1JPwWog
Gucci's Fall 2015 Collection at Milan Fashion Week - New York Times (blog)
The live stream has ended. Thank you for your interest.
Watch the live stream on Gucci’s web site.
The latest women’s collection from Gucci at Milan Fashion Week.
At Gucci, a New Philosophy
Alessandro Michele's first show as creative director was not your grandmother's (or even last season's) Gucci. Except actually it was.
At Gucci, a Messy Exit for One Designer Opens an Unlikely Door for Another
The luxury brand ousted its chief executive, Patrizio di Marco, and his partner, Frida Giannini, its creative director. Her replacement left the fashion world asking, “Who?”
Follow our Fashion Week coverage on Twitter and Instagram, and find us on Pinterest here.
Interested in Fashion Week? Follow the conversation at http://ift.tt/1JcfnOR.
Complete Coverage: Women’s Fashion Week Fall 2015
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1JPwW7M
Kelly Osbourne Threatens To Quit 'Fashion Police' Over Zendaya Controversy - Huffington Post
Kelly Osbourne's days as a co-host on E!'s "Fashion Police" might be over in light of Giuliana Rancic's offensive comments about Zendaya's Oscars hairstyle.
After Rancic remarked on-air that Zendaya, who had her hair in locs for the awards show, "smells like patchouli oil or weed," Zendaya responded with a powerful open letter blasting the "Fashion Police" co-host for her ignorance. Osbourne, too, condemned the comments, speaking candidly on Twitter about the incident:
Zendaya has has been a guest on "Fashion Police" in the past, and she and Osbourne attended the Christian Siriano show together during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 14:
After Rancic apologized to the "Replay" singer both on Twitter and on E! News on Tuesday, Zendaya posted another open letter on her Instagram account Wednesday, writing that she has accepted Rancic's apology and hopes that others will, too. Perhaps Osbourne will follow suit.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1LHkr9Z
Fashion still playing catch-up to "plus-size" industry - CBS News
With an estimated two-thirds of American women falling into the plus-size category, the demand for fashionable clothing to serve this multi-billion dollar market has never been greater. The public profile of larger women got a major boost in January as 29-year-old Tess Holliday became the first plus-size model signed to a major agency. Still, women in the plus-size range said finding clothes that fit isn't as easy as it should be, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.
In a showroom in midtown Manhattan, women shop for clothes made especially for them. Everything, from tight-fitting dresses to fringe, two-piece bathing suits ranges in size from 14 to 24 -- also known as the plus-sizes.
Designer Monif Clarke launched the Monif C. line 10 years ago. Back then, she had no fashion training, so she took her ideas to a design team that brought them to life.
Before her brand got on the scene, she said marketers would use words like "slimming," and "lose 10pounds with this dress."
"And I didn't want that. I wanted to be sexy and curvaceous. I wanted my clothes to fit," Clarke said.
When Clarke tried to sell her trendy plus-size designs to retailers, the response was always the same.
"They would say, 'You know if it was in straight size, we would put it on the rack, but because it's in plus-size, no one's gonna buy it,'" Clarke said.
Clarke took her business online. It was a convertible dress that launched her sales, but it's interaction with clients on social media like Facebook and Instagram that's helped sustain it. Last year her revenue was upward of $1 million. Her dresses costs about $125 on average.
"This is a customer that's vocal and she knows what she wants and she's not hiding behind the black and the brown and the slimming," Clarke said.
That customer includes about 64 percent of American women who fall into the plus-size category, but account for only 17 percent of purchases. While more of them are appearing in ad campaigns, red carpets and even the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, experts say plus-sized women are still viewed as having negative perceptions about their bodies.
"Culturally they've been made to feel like they shouldn't splurge on themselves because all they need to do is lose that 20 pounds and then 'Aren't you going to wish that you'd waited until you bought that?'" New York Times style editor Katherine Rosman said.
But at photo shoots for Plus Model Magazine, the opposite is true. There, the model celebrates her size without holding back. Editor Madeline Jones said the online publication is popular because it addresses what everyone else is ignoring.
"Everyone is kind of shying away from the term 'plus-size.' Plus-size models do not want to be called plus-size. Plus-size brands do not want to be called plus-size. In the meantime, you want our plus-size dollars, but you don't want to be called plus-size. That's a problem," Jones said.
Jones said that problem is why high-end fashion designers have been hesitant to create plus-size lines. For designers like Clarke, business is booming -- it's already doubled from last year.
She said the same retailers that laughed at her idea initially, have come back with interest.
"It was kind of like, 'What do you mean they want to show their bodies instead of hide their bodies?' And so a lot of them are calling now and say, 'You know, can we work together?' and I think that bodes well for where the brand is going to go," Clarke said.
Despite the fact that major retailers like Target and Old Navy now carry plus-size lines, it's the world of high fashion where many advocates say the deficit remains.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1BfyMJt
London Fashion Week 2015: From catwalk to High Street - BBC News
Last updated at 19:03 ET
Inside London Fashion Week
Twice a year, London's grand neoclassical Somerset House, welcomes a tumult of fashion designers and their models dressed in their finest gladrags.
The courtyard becomes the centre of London Fashion Week - a far cry from the building's sober past as home to the Inland Revenue.
This year sees the event's 61st year, during which more than 250 designers will showcase their collections for autumn and winter to a global audience.
For those outside the fashion industry, it can be difficult to appreciate why this week is so important. Fashion has long been criticised as frivolous and superficial, dictating trends that are swiftly cast aside.
Indeed, watching the crowds teetering on vertiginous heels, heads topped with designer sunglasses, arms toting handbags and hands clutching smartphones, it is easy to understand why.
Yet while it may look like a big party to outsiders, the week is a crucial one for the industry.
"It is incredibly important because it's the showcase of the very best of British businesses to an international audience," says Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council.
"The British fashion industry is exceeding the current economic growth we are seeing in the UK - because we are exporting all over the world."
The fashion sector plays a significant role in the UK economy - it generates £26bn for the UK each year, rakes in £10.7bn from consumers and supports almost 800,000 jobs.
London Fashion Week is a crucial element in this, as orders of approximately £100m are placed during the five days - and the shows are watched online by audiences in 190 countries worldwide.
Trickle-down trends
The spectacular clothes worn by models on the catwalk can appear impractical, unaffordable and sometimes ridiculous. So will they really affect what we wear, come September?
“Start Quote
We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate”
End Quote Carla Buzasi WGSN
Traditionally, the idea has been that the clothes and styles adopted by the richest in society eventually filter through and influence the rest of us, the so-called "trickle-down" theory - first put forward by the American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen, in 1898.
It is true that since the social upheavals of the 1960s, an inverse process has evolved, whereby designers have been increasingly inspired by the clothes people wear on the streets.
Yet although the trickle-down process might not be as clear-cut as it once was - when designers dictated the trends and people slavishly followed - it is still in evidence today.
"The High Street is very much influenced by what they see at London Fashion Week," says Carla Buzasi, global chief content officer at the trend forecasters WGSN.
"We have a global network of experts, their job is to have their eyes and ears out - all the apparel brands in the FTSE 500 are WGSN subscribers."
Internet catalyst
"Although you may not wear the exact look that you see coming down the runway on a model, you will pick up little things. There's always something reflected in the High Street that comes through from London Fashion Week," says fashion journalist Hilary Alexander.
“Start Quote
I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people - I'm interested in actually having an influence”
End Quote Jasper Conran
"A few seasons ago, Simone Rocha showed these pearl collars on her dresses which would have sold for hundreds of pounds, but within weeks up and down the High Street pearl collars and trims appeared," she says.
"We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate," says Carla Buzasi. "What you see on the catwalks is about press and the designer brand.
"For example, Mary Katrantzou does these wild prints on structured dresses. The prints influence the High Street but you'd be less likely to see that kind of structure carry through."
The internet has acted as a catalyst to speed up this process and democratise fashion even further.
Collections that were once viewed only by the ticketed few appear online later the same day and on social media, instantaneously.
Catwalk to High Street
As everyone can now see what is being shown, this has meant that the procedure of translating catwalk designs to the High Street has vastly accelerated.
"In years gone by it could take six months to a year for runway trends to hit the High Street. Now it can be as short as three weeks," explains Carla Buzasi.
"London Fashion Week is really important because it offers such a wealth of inspiration," says Zeba Lowe, head of fashion at the online retailer Asos.
"A couple of seasons ago we saw Marcus Almeida doing ripped denim and the idea of those raw hems influenced how we might have approached denim," she adds.
"We might see an amazing catwalk show and a colour that could work for the season, or a specific theme might come through that we take inspiration from," says H&M's Claire Wakeman.
Designer approaches
Many designers are keen for their ideas to be popularised.
Anthony Cuthbertson, creative director at Australian fashion label sass & bide, says he is flattered when he sees his designs re-interpreted on the High Street.
"It's great that we can filtrate the looks down. It's important that someone who's buying a dress for $8,000 can still buy the same dress in a High Street store for $120."
Designer Jasper Conran agrees: "If it's a good idea, why wouldn't you make 2,000 of them? I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people. I'm interested in actually having an influence."
In recent years designers have been collaborating with High Street retailers to create affordable versions of their own designs.
Conran, who was one of the first to do so, says: "That's why I did it myself. You might as well get in there first and be really good at it, rather than second rate."
High Street retailers say they benefit, too. Claire Wakeman at H&M says that its designer collaborations "are hugely successful" for the retailer.
"We started in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld and last year, Alexander Wang. It shows our customers that they can have access to designer clothes at an accessible price," she says.
Fashion influence
Although it may be preferable to imagine that we are the agents of our own sartorial lives, it is undeniable that how we choose to dress ourselves each morning is the result of countless hours of trend forecasters, industry analysis and designer innovation that has trickled down from the catwalk to the High Street.
As Hilary Alexander says: "When we get up in the morning and decide what to wear, we're making a conscious fashion decision, whether we realise it or not."
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1BfyMt5
Gucci's Fall 2015 Collection at Milan Fashion Week - New York Times (blog)
The live stream has ended. Thank you for your interest.
Watch the live stream on Gucci’s web site.
The latest women’s collection from Gucci at Milan Fashion Week.
At Gucci, a New Philosophy
Alessandro Michele's first show as creative director was not your grandmother's (or even last season's) Gucci. Except actually it was.
At Gucci, a Messy Exit for One Designer Opens an Unlikely Door for Another
The luxury brand ousted its chief executive, Patrizio di Marco, and his partner, Frida Giannini, its creative director. Her replacement left the fashion world asking, “Who?”
Follow our Fashion Week coverage on Twitter and Instagram, and find us on Pinterest here.
Interested in Fashion Week? Follow the conversation at http://ift.tt/1JcfnOR.
Complete Coverage: Women’s Fashion Week Fall 2015
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1whH25Z
Kelly Osbourne Threatens To Quit 'Fashion Police' Over Zendaya Controversy - Huffington Post
Kelly Osbourne's days as a co-host on E!'s "Fashion Police" might be over in light of Giuliana Rancic's offensive comments about Zendaya's Oscars hairstyle.
After Rancic remarked on-air that Zendaya, who had her hair in locs for the awards show, "smells like patchouli oil or weed," Zendaya responded with a powerful open letter blasting the "Fashion Police" co-host for her ignorance. Osbourne, too, condemned the comments, speaking candidly on Twitter about the incident:
Zendaya has has been a guest on "Fashion Police" in the past, and she and Osbourne attended the Christian Siriano show together during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 14:
After Rancic apologized to the "Replay" singer both on Twitter and on E! News on Tuesday, Zendaya posted another open letter on her Instagram account Wednesday, writing that she has accepted Rancic's apology and hopes that others will, too. Perhaps Osbourne will follow suit.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1whH25M
Fashion still playing catch-up to "plus-size" industry - CBS News
With an estimated two-thirds of American women falling into the plus-size category, the demand for fashionable clothing to serve this multi-billion dollar market has never been greater. The public profile of larger women got a major boost in January as 29-year-old Tess Holliday became the first plus-size model signed to a major agency. Still, women in the plus-size range said finding clothes that fit isn't as easy as it should be, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.
In a showroom in midtown Manhattan, women shop for clothes made especially for them. Everything, from tight-fitting dresses to fringe, two-piece bathing suits ranges in size from 14 to 24 -- also known as the plus-sizes.
Designer Monif Clarke launched the Monif C. line 10 years ago. Back then, she had no fashion training, so she took her ideas to a design team that brought them to life.
Before her brand got on the scene, she said marketers would use words like "slimming," and "lose 10pounds with this dress."
"And I didn't want that. I wanted to be sexy and curvaceous. I wanted my clothes to fit," Clarke said.
When Clarke tried to sell her trendy plus-size designs to retailers, the response was always the same.
"They would say, 'You know if it was in straight size, we would put it on the rack, but because it's in plus-size, no one's gonna buy it,'" Clarke said.
Clarke took her business online. It was a convertible dress that launched her sales, but it's interaction with clients on social media like Facebook and Instagram that's helped sustain it. Last year her revenue was upward of $1 million. Her dresses costs about $125 on average.
"This is a customer that's vocal and she knows what she wants and she's not hiding behind the black and the brown and the slimming," Clarke said.
That customer includes about 64 percent of American women who fall into the plus-size category, but account for only 17 percent of purchases. While more of them are appearing in ad campaigns, red carpets and even the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, experts say plus-sized women are still viewed as having negative perceptions about their bodies.
"Culturally they've been made to feel like they shouldn't splurge on themselves because all they need to do is lose that 20 pounds and then 'Aren't you going to wish that you'd waited until you bought that?'" New York Times style editor Katherine Rosman said.
But at photo shoots for Plus Model Magazine, the opposite is true. There, the model celebrates her size without holding back. Editor Madeline Jones said the online publication is popular because it addresses what everyone else is ignoring.
"Everyone is kind of shying away from the term 'plus-size.' Plus-size models do not want to be called plus-size. Plus-size brands do not want to be called plus-size. In the meantime, you want our plus-size dollars, but you don't want to be called plus-size. That's a problem," Jones said.
Jones said that problem is why high-end fashion designers have been hesitant to create plus-size lines. For designers like Clarke, business is booming -- it's already doubled from last year.
She said the same retailers that laughed at her idea initially, have come back with interest.
"It was kind of like, 'What do you mean they want to show their bodies instead of hide their bodies?' And so a lot of them are calling now and say, 'You know, can we work together?' and I think that bodes well for where the brand is going to go," Clarke said.
Despite the fact that major retailers like Target and Old Navy now carry plus-size lines, it's the world of high fashion where many advocates say the deficit remains.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1Dd7AYs
London Fashion Week 2015: From catwalk to High Street - BBC News
Last updated at 19:03 ET
Inside London Fashion Week
Twice a year, London's grand neoclassical Somerset House, welcomes a tumult of fashion designers and their models dressed in their finest gladrags.
The courtyard becomes the centre of London Fashion Week - a far cry from the building's sober past as home to the Inland Revenue.
This year sees the event's 61st year, during which more than 250 designers will showcase their collections for autumn and winter to a global audience.
For those outside the fashion industry, it can be difficult to appreciate why this week is so important. Fashion has long been criticised as frivolous and superficial, dictating trends that are swiftly cast aside.
Indeed, watching the crowds teetering on vertiginous heels, heads topped with designer sunglasses, arms toting handbags and hands clutching smartphones, it is easy to understand why.
Yet while it may look like a big party to outsiders, the week is a crucial one for the industry.
"It is incredibly important because it's the showcase of the very best of British businesses to an international audience," says Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council.
"The British fashion industry is exceeding the current economic growth we are seeing in the UK - because we are exporting all over the world."
The fashion sector plays a significant role in the UK economy - it generates £26bn for the UK each year, rakes in £10.7bn from consumers and supports almost 800,000 jobs.
London Fashion Week is a crucial element in this, as orders of approximately £100m are placed during the five days - and the shows are watched online by audiences in 190 countries worldwide.
Trickle-down trends
The spectacular clothes worn by models on the catwalk can appear impractical, unaffordable and sometimes ridiculous. So will they really affect what we wear, come September?
“Start Quote
We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate”
End Quote Carla Buzasi WGSN
Traditionally, the idea has been that the clothes and styles adopted by the richest in society eventually filter through and influence the rest of us, the so-called "trickle-down" theory - first put forward by the American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen, in 1898.
It is true that since the social upheavals of the 1960s, an inverse process has evolved, whereby designers have been increasingly inspired by the clothes people wear on the streets.
Yet although the trickle-down process might not be as clear-cut as it once was - when designers dictated the trends and people slavishly followed - it is still in evidence today.
"The High Street is very much influenced by what they see at London Fashion Week," says Carla Buzasi, global chief content officer at the trend forecasters WGSN.
"We have a global network of experts, their job is to have their eyes and ears out - all the apparel brands in the FTSE 500 are WGSN subscribers."
Internet catalyst
"Although you may not wear the exact look that you see coming down the runway on a model, you will pick up little things. There's always something reflected in the High Street that comes through from London Fashion Week," says fashion journalist Hilary Alexander.
“Start Quote
I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people - I'm interested in actually having an influence”
End Quote Jasper Conran
"A few seasons ago, Simone Rocha showed these pearl collars on her dresses which would have sold for hundreds of pounds, but within weeks up and down the High Street pearl collars and trims appeared," she says.
"We're looking for trends that our High Street partners might be able to translate," says Carla Buzasi. "What you see on the catwalks is about press and the designer brand.
"For example, Mary Katrantzou does these wild prints on structured dresses. The prints influence the High Street but you'd be less likely to see that kind of structure carry through."
The internet has acted as a catalyst to speed up this process and democratise fashion even further.
Collections that were once viewed only by the ticketed few appear online later the same day and on social media, instantaneously.
Catwalk to High Street
As everyone can now see what is being shown, this has meant that the procedure of translating catwalk designs to the High Street has vastly accelerated.
"In years gone by it could take six months to a year for runway trends to hit the High Street. Now it can be as short as three weeks," explains Carla Buzasi.
"London Fashion Week is really important because it offers such a wealth of inspiration," says Zeba Lowe, head of fashion at the online retailer Asos.
"A couple of seasons ago we saw Marcus Almeida doing ripped denim and the idea of those raw hems influenced how we might have approached denim," she adds.
"We might see an amazing catwalk show and a colour that could work for the season, or a specific theme might come through that we take inspiration from," says H&M's Claire Wakeman.
Designer approaches
Many designers are keen for their ideas to be popularised.
Anthony Cuthbertson, creative director at Australian fashion label sass & bide, says he is flattered when he sees his designs re-interpreted on the High Street.
"It's great that we can filtrate the looks down. It's important that someone who's buying a dress for $8,000 can still buy the same dress in a High Street store for $120."
Designer Jasper Conran agrees: "If it's a good idea, why wouldn't you make 2,000 of them? I don't get up in the morning and think about making clothes for only two people. I'm interested in actually having an influence."
In recent years designers have been collaborating with High Street retailers to create affordable versions of their own designs.
Conran, who was one of the first to do so, says: "That's why I did it myself. You might as well get in there first and be really good at it, rather than second rate."
High Street retailers say they benefit, too. Claire Wakeman at H&M says that its designer collaborations "are hugely successful" for the retailer.
"We started in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld and last year, Alexander Wang. It shows our customers that they can have access to designer clothes at an accessible price," she says.
Fashion influence
Although it may be preferable to imagine that we are the agents of our own sartorial lives, it is undeniable that how we choose to dress ourselves each morning is the result of countless hours of trend forecasters, industry analysis and designer innovation that has trickled down from the catwalk to the High Street.
As Hilary Alexander says: "When we get up in the morning and decide what to wear, we're making a conscious fashion decision, whether we realise it or not."
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1DYPI9l
Gucci's Fall 2015 Collection at Milan Fashion Week - New York Times (blog)
The live stream has ended. Thank you for your interest.
Watch the live stream on Gucci’s web site.
The latest women’s collection from Gucci at Milan Fashion Week.
At Gucci, a New Philosophy
Alessandro Michele's first show as creative director was not your grandmother's (or even last season's) Gucci. Except actually it was.
At Gucci, a Messy Exit for One Designer Opens an Unlikely Door for Another
The luxury brand ousted its chief executive, Patrizio di Marco, and his partner, Frida Giannini, its creative director. Her replacement left the fashion world asking, “Who?”
Follow our Fashion Week coverage on Twitter and Instagram, and find us on Pinterest here.
Interested in Fashion Week? Follow the conversation at http://ift.tt/1JcfnOR.
Complete Coverage: Women’s Fashion Week Fall 2015
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1DYPI9b
Kelly Osbourne Threatens To Quit 'Fashion Police' Over Zendaya Controversy - Huffington Post
Kelly Osbourne's days as a co-host on E!'s "Fashion Police" might be over in light of Giuliana Rancic's offensive comments about Zendaya's Oscars hairstyle.
After Rancic remarked on-air that Zendaya, who had her hair in locs for the awards show, "smells like patchouli oil or weed," Zendaya responded with a powerful open letter blasting the "Fashion Police" co-host for her ignorance. Osbourne, too, condemned the comments, speaking candidly on Twitter about the incident:
Zendaya has has been a guest on "Fashion Police" in the past, and she and Osbourne attended the Christian Siriano show together during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 14:
After Rancic apologized to the "Replay" singer both on Twitter and on E! News on Tuesday, Zendaya posted another open letter on her Instagram account Wednesday, writing that she has accepted Rancic's apology and hopes that others will, too. Perhaps Osbourne will follow suit.
via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1DYPI93
Introducing Do — a new class of apps by IFTTT
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