IN THE KNOW – WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST VOL. 3

The news in the fashion world seems to be following themes every week. This week besides the squabble between the two artists – Kidult & Marc Jacobs, all the news looks financial and top management related.

Marc Jacob and Kidult..the love story continues

Marc Jacobs faced a second act of vandalism by graffiti artist Kidult, this time covering his Paris store. French graffiti artist Kidult tagged the shop windows with “$686” in neon green paint. The numbers reference when the first run-in they had when Kidult tagged the brand’s SoHo store in May last year with the word “Art” in bright pink. Jacobs printed a photograph of the work onto a line of T-shirts and sold them for $686.

Marc Jacobs Paris store tagged by Kidult

Kidult, who has previously tagged the storefronts of both Celine and Hermes, tweeted an image of his work writing, “680? 689?…686?! How much are you going to sell this for? #kidultarmyparis #thisisnotart.” 

Once again, Marc Jacobs responded to the graffiti artist’s attack with humor, tweeting to his followers: “Come by Paris Collection for the opening night installation of the new @therealkidult. We proudly support the arts.” Later that same day, Marc Jacobs tweeted images of new T-shirts screen printed with the above image, to be sold at the store for $686 “unsigned” and $430 “signed.”

Read more: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/bibby-sowray/TMG10143151/Marc-Jacobs-turns-graffiti-vandalism-into-a-tidy-profit.html

Hired: Coach appoints Stuart Vevers as creative director

Stuart Vevers has been announced to be taking over the reins from Reed Krakoff, who leaves the company after 18 years at its creative helm to focus on his namesake brand. The newly to be appointed creative director revealed his plans to revive the 72-year-old brand which includes highlighting Coach’s heritage, introducing more offerings of apparel, footwear, and watches, and elevating the label to luxury standards.

Stuart Vevers

Vevers will adopt a similar approach to Coach as that while creative director at Loewe – fusing the label’s history with a contemporary aesthetic. “My passion is for brands with heritage. Throughout my career, every brand I’ve been drawn to has a strong heritage,” Vevers said. “I think Coach is that kind of brand. My style is to take that heritage and to play it against modern references, youth culture, references that take things to a different place and make them relevant now. That’s what I’ve always been known for in my work.”

Read more:  http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130624-908680.html

CEO of Ted Baker sells 1.2 million shares at peak price

Ray Kelvin, founder and CEO of British beloved fashion brand Ted Baker, sold 1.2 million shares (ie. 2.8 percent stake) after the company’s shares touched an all time high this week. Reportedly selling the shares for “personal reasons”, at £17 a share Kelvin made approximately £20m by off loading these shares. This reduces his stake in the business from 38.9 percent to 36 percent.

Ted Baker Store at Regent Street, London

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10144020/Ted-Baker-founder-sells-20m-of-shares.html

Sabyasachi to do Grand Finale

After all the critical attention garnered for dressing Vidya Balan at Cannes, this is good news for Sabyasachi fans. India’s favourite designer will showcase his collection at the show after a hiatus of five years. And there is no other way to do it except as the Grand Finale designer at Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2013.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Sabya, as people fondly call him is a LFW discovery. He debuted his first collection all the way back in 2002 at LFW and in the same year was reckoned as the future of Indian fashion by Women’s Wear Daily. He has indeed proved to be just that. Renowned both in India and abroad, Sabya’s work has earned both accolades and critical acclaim.

Read more: http://www.vogue.in/content/sabyasachi-returns-ramp-lfw-finale

Masterclass with Masterji

Interview with Ishita Khanna, make-up artist and hair stylist

We all have that one man in our lives, the one we run to during the stressful wedding season, three days before a party or after we put on weight. He smiles patiently as we use the word ‘urgent’ for the 50^th time, works his magic and makes the anarkali we need in a week or alters the blouse that fit just fine only six months ago. Some also like to call this bespoke, we are going to credit the man behind the spoke of the sewing machine and refer to him as what we have for years – Masterji.

White cotton dress with crystal detailing

OK so not all of us have this magic man, but all of us definitely want one. Twenty-two-year-old make-up artist and hair stylist Ishita Khanna found her man and could not be more thankful. Having trained with Fatmu, L’Oreal and Sapna Bhavnani, she started in the beauty industry as a 16-year-old and has so far worked with Diana Penty, Irrfan Khan, Nishka Lulla, Neeta Lulla and others. It is also around the same time she became a certified shopaholic. For her an invitation to a party is an occasion to go shopping. “And I don’t like repeating my clothes when I go out,” she says.

Made in 2012

As someone who shops almost every day – “If I pass by a store I like or a mall, I have to go in and buy something” – sometimes what’s available off the rack isn’t good enough. So she’ll rip off a page from a magazine or sketch something and find her way to her Masterji. “He gets it right every time,” she says about his copying and tailoring skills. She also organises sale events a few times a year at a restaurant or a club. These are soirées for girls to party and shop and as the organiser she likes to be the best dressed. “For the last sale I didn’t know what to wear, so I went over to his shop for inspiration. There I saw this lovely white fabric and gave him a design. When I wore the dress people wouldn’t stop asking where I had bought it from!”

Number of times worn: 1

As good as she is with the shopping, Ishita is just the opposite at purging. She has a separate room for her clothes and accessories and manages to give away clothes only once in two years. “I love everything I buy. It’s too difficult to give anything away,” she pleads.

She does manage to part with the white dress for Fuffabulous. While Ishita wore the dress with a pair of stilettos, but with a chambray shirt and boots we gave it a complete grungy twist. You like?

Model friend: Kadambari Sadekar; Location: Worli seaface; Styling: Rachana Nakra and Radhika Dhawan; Accessories: Radhika Dhawan; Photographs: Karan Nevatia (karan1981@outlook.com)

In the know – weekly news digest

Thanks for all the hits on the ‘in the know’ post last week.

While last week was all about new collaborations, this week’s global fashion scenario seems to be dominated with legal hassles. Some of the biggest names in the industry seem to be facing trouble. Read on to know more:

Hermès suits LVMH yet again

Hermès presented last July a criminal complaint against LVMH for insider trading and manipulation of its share price.

But now the Birkin bag creator has filed another lawsuit against the luxury conglomerate with the aim of annulling the equity swaps that enabled LVMH to attain its initial 17.1 per cent stake. The holding has since been upped to 22.3 per cent.

Hermes

France’s stock market watchdog, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), recommended that LVMH be fined €10 million (£8.5 million), accusing the group of hiding its gradual stake acquisitions. The verdict for this will be revealed by July 31.

LVMH is currently suing a civil manager at Hermès – believed to be Patrick Thomas, CEO of Hermès International – after he implied that Arnault’s firm had acted “fraudulently” in its pursuit of the gains state certain reports.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/hermes-sues-lvmh-lawsuit-stock-court-case_n_1853936.html

Balenciaga to sue Nicolas Ghesquière

Kering, formerly PPR, the luxury conglomerate which owns luxury label Balenciaga is reportedly suing its former creative director for ‘breach of confidentiality’ following a controversial interview that was published after his exit from the fashion house, in which he criticised the brand’s management.

Nicolas Ghesquiere

Published in System Magazine, Ghesquière revealed that he decided to leave the fashion house because he “ended up feeling too alone”, and as though he was being “sucked dry”. He also accused the label of “lacking in direction” and claimed that he had a lack of support from the business side of the relationship.

Ghesquière and Balenciaga announced the end of their 15-year relationship in November last year, and the designer was eventually succeeded by Alexander Wang as creative director.

Read more: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10128295/Balenciaga-to-sue-ex-creative-director-Nicolas-Ghesquiere.html

Dolce & Gabanna

This has been splashed all over making almost breaking news.  But still in case you missed it, Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have both been found guilty of tax evasion by an Italian court and sentenced to jail. The duo were both sentenced to one year and eight months in prison, after being found guilty of failing to declare hundreds of millions of euros to the Italian tax authorities.

Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/dolce-and-gabbana-guilty_n_3466274.html

 

Play with Karl

Well, it’s not all grim in the fashion world.

In the Karl video game the Chanel creative director appears as an energetic Tokidoki cartoon. The objective is to try and remove his signature sunglasses – not an easy task thanks to the designer’s stealthy, ninja-like moves.

Karl Lagerfeld Tokidoki

Cartoon Karl also offers disapproving remarks after unsuccessful attempts, like, “You really need glasses”, and “What a shame”. If you’re too slow, he taps his foot and takes pictures with his camera, but his most cutting comments are left for when you fail at the game completely – to which he says, “Karl has no more time for you.”

The online game is part of a month-long partnership with Lagerfeld’s French eyewear distributor Optic 2000. The lucky French residents are able to claim prizes if they manage to triumph over Lagerfeld, which I can tell you first hand is by no means is an easy task.

Play here: jeveuxleslunettesdekarl.com.

In the know – weekly news digest

This Friday onward, fashion entrepreneur Radhika Dhawan will update the blog and our readers as a regular contributor. She will scour the media, so you don’t have to, and bring all the exciting fashion happenings from around the world to Fuffabulous every week. Stay in the know and say hello to Radhika.

Oh and did I mention the blog has received over 5000 hits in the 3 months since it started? Thank you so much for he support!!

Keep reading!

Coming up, Isabel Marant for H&M

Isabel Marant is the latest designer to team up with H&M.  Just when we were hitting total designer collab fatigue, H&M pulls this little trick and aren’t we’re glad? After several successful collaborations with Stella McCartney, Jimmy Choo, Comme des Garçons, Matthew Williamson, Lanvin, Versace, Marni and more recently, Maison Martin Margiela, which appealed to a very in-the-know avant garde kind of shopper, this should be a more accessible collaboration.

Designer Isabel Marant

The Swedish high-street giant announced that the collection will hit 250 stores as well as the brand’s website on November 14. Isabel Marant’s  take on her collection is, “I am creating something real, that women want to wear in their everyday lives, with a certain carelessness, which I think is very Parisian: you dress up, but do not pay too much attention and still look sexy.”  The project will also see the designer create her first menswear line, alongside womenswear, accessories and teen lines.

Read more: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10112208/Isabel-Marant-for-HandM.html

Have you been kissed yet? Burberry Kisses powered by Google

This newly-launched cute idea is a way to spread some love across the globe in a more personalized way. People get to send their own kiss imprint to a loved one – no more sending generic kiss emoticons!

Burberry Kisses

It’s as simple as visiting  Burberry Kisses. Using a webcam and “unique kiss-detection technology” the outline of your lips gets imprinted. Then write a short message and send it on via email or Google+. The envelope containing your message and kiss then flies across to the receiver’s destination across a 3D landscape. You can then share this publicly across other social media platforms such as on Google+, Facebook or Twitter.

A lovely idea which will no doubt be a social media and marketing strategy to drive sales for Christopher Bailey‘s 1960s-inspired, fall-winter 2013-2013 collection, Trench Kisses. No wonder Burberry is known as the luxury brand that embraced digital media like no other. 

Read more: http://en.vogue.fr/fashion/fashion-news/diaporama/send-all-your-kisses-to-me-with-burberry/13832#!send-all-your-kisses-to-me-with-burberry

Sarah Jessica Parker to launch shoe collection

Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker is (finally!) launching her own footwear collection, simply titled SJP, which will be exclusive to US department store Nordstrom.

The actress has partnered with Manolo Blahnik USA’s Chief Executive and Operating Officer George Malkemus, and has taken inspiration from great old-school labels like Charles Jourdan and Maud Frizon for her accessories line, which will also include a few bags and  trench coats and will launch in 2014.

Sarah Jessica Parker

The shoes will be inspired by the “New York woman” and will have grosgrain ribbons as a signature element. Also, the shoes will mostly be in suede. Well, the collection doesn’t sound as vibrant as Carrie Bradshaw but we guess we’ll just have to wait and see, right?

Read more: http://fashionista.com/2013/06/what-to-expect-from-sarah-jessica-parkers-new-shoe-line/

Headed to the hills In search of some

Headed to the hills In search of some peace and well, cool weather. See you back in just a few days!