Austrian cellulosic fibre producer Lenzing has developed a new fibre based on cotton scraps and wood as part of its efforts to drive circular economy in the textile industry.
The effects of the current political tumult seeped into Rachel Comey’s fall collection, lending a more emotional edge to her brand of clothing for real women.
Her program notes — obviously carefully considered, as she even managed to address the night’s rainy weather in the text — called the past four months, during which she designed the collection, “a time of great emotion for all of us.” Afterward, Comey said, “I had a clear vision of what I was working on, and the election turned everything upside down for me, so it was about refocusing and really thinking about who we are, our world and how to dress for it, while simultaneously thinking about things that interest us on a creative level.”
Per Comey tradition, she presented her 36 looks in three parts, each with its own theme, between the courses of a sit-down dinner with a musical performance.
The first explored anger and the need to protect and cover oneself among strangers. These feelings manifested themselves in “outer layers to reflect the outrage” and “and textures of militaristic uniformity.” In Comey’s luxe and eclectic fashion vocabulary, that meant leather and shearling outerwear, corduroy and stonewashed canvas pants and shirts with deconstructed tailoring
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Creative director Emily Smith’s trip to Bhutan informed the Lafayette 148 fall collection.
“Bhutan is the happiest country in the world — we want to share that joy through our collection,” she said in the show notes. As a result, a rich, optimistic fall palette and a mix of textures prevailed. A patchwork pencil skirt in panels of calf hair and merino, for example, worked beautifully with a long, lightweight cashmere coat and sweater, while luxurious fur details accentuated everything from pockets to sleeves.
Also noteworthy were fluid, three-quarter-length floral print dresses, which evoked a certain Seventies glamour while being completely relatable to the Lafayette 148 customer.
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Harley Viera-Newton’s HVN collection has landed at Bergdorf Goodman, and on Tuesday night, she brought out a crew of friends to the store — Jessica Hart, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Athena Calderone, Lily Kwong — to help her celebrate. The intimate “high-tea,” which relocated to the basement-level Goodman’s Café due to a “water issue” in the seventh floor restaurant, carried a summery garden party vibe through dainty towers of snacks and a cherry motif: cherry-print straws in the cocktails, cherry-print napkins, cherry-shaped USB drives.
“We’re going to pretend that it’s spring. The rain stopped just in time,” said Viera-Newton, donning a sky blue daisy-print sundress from the collection, which was the party’s centerpiece. “In the winter it always means a lot when people come out — number one — and uptown.”
Viera-Newton launched her line of vintage-inspired dresses last summer and has since expanded the offering to include sleepwear. While the line definitely has a warmer-weather vibe, she stressed that her customers have found ways to wear the dresses all year-round. “I’ve been wearing them with fishnets and tights, and different layers,” she added.
And with a snowstorm predicted for the first day of New York Fashion Week — she’s been booked to DJ
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ATLANTA — Specialty store retailers shopping the Atlanta Apparel Market last week projected a robust 2017 after ending 2016 with increased sales.
The show, held at the Atlanta Apparel Mart for four days ended Sunday, “started out with a bang and finished strong,” said Mary Sullivan, senior vice president, leasing, AmericasMart. “There’s a lot of positive energy going into 2017.”
Permanent showrooms reported a record number of appointments and buyers with strong open-to-buys, she added.
Charlie Brown, president of Karlie, said, “Buyers are buying deeper into their better selling lines, and they’re testing new lines.” He added that the show was steady and strong.
Caron Stover, vice president of apparel trade show sales at AmericasMart, said the temporary showroom area was up 17 percent over the show a year ago and that 26 percent of the increase came from new companies. The Mart expanded temporary exhibitors, mostly young contemporary, onto the fifth floor, adding 7,000 square feet of space. The Mart opened three new showrooms and had three showroom expansions.
Buyers focused on summer, but a few also bought fall.
“There are a lot of the same trends from last year,” said Morgan Ramage, fashion manager at AmericasMart. Key trends, she said, include stripes and florals,
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GOING, GOING, GONE: IMG, NYFW: The Shows and the E network have struck a partnership with Christie’s to present a selection of artwork by Andy Warhol from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The works will be on view Feb. 9 to 16 at Skylight Clarkson Sq and will be included in an online-only sale of more than 80 works called “Andy Warhol at Christie’s With NYFW: The Shows.” Bidding will be open to collectors at christies.com/warhol.
The exhibition will be presented at the official NYFW: The Shows launch party tonight. Starting bids open at $1,500, and proceeds from the sale will benefit the Warhol Foundation’s grant-making programs, which support artists and nonprofit arts organizations.
“Given E!’s role in pop culture, Warhol’s legacy as a pop artist and our commitment to celebrating all forms of culture during New York Fashion Week, we’ve created an experience that appeals to all interested in art, fashion and celebrity,” said Catherine Bennett, senior vice president and managing director of IMG Fashion.
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TWEET, TWEET, TWEET: President Donald Trump took to Twitter earlier today to criticize Nordstrom for treating his daughter Ivanka “so unfairly,” but Nordstrom has fired back claiming sales of the brand “steadily declined” in the second-half of the year.
A Nordstrom spokeswoman said this afternoon, “To reiterate what we’ve already shared when asked, we made this decision based on performance. Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now.”
She continued, “We’ve had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team. We’ve had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we’ve seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January.”
President Trump has finally chimed in on the controversy surrounding his daughter Ivanka Trump’s fashion line.
Last week, Nordstrom announced it would no longer be selling clothing or accessories from Ivanka Trump’s eponymous line. “This was a decision made entirely based on brand performance,” a Nordstrom spokeswoman said at the time. “We’ve said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. We’ve got thousands of
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BEACH TIME FOR BARBIE: Gigi Hadid’s Barbie doll is racking up likes on Instagram. On Tuesday, Hadid posted a photo of a Barbie doll in her likeness that will be unveiled tonight at Tommy Hilfiger’s runway show in Los Angeles. By noon Wednesday, the post has generated more than 1.28 million likes.
The 21-year-old model, who will reveal her second Tommy x Gigi capsule collection, wrote, “Can’t believe that’s me! Thank you for this honor #Mattel @tommyhilfiger can’t wait to have a #Barbie join us at the #TommyxGigi show tomorrow! @barbiestyle @tommyxgigi.”
Hadid’s Barbie is decked out in a Tommy Hilfiger logo T-shirt, cut-off denim jeans and roller blades, fitting for the Venice Beach runway show.
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A 42-piece collection of easy, comfortable designs.
January proved to be a better month for the handful of US apparel retailers still reporting comparable sales figures but it wasn’t all good news, with one big upside offsetting two huge declines – one of which represents the largest monthly comp store sales decline in 19 years.