Fashion News

With all those veils and many meters of tulle and lace, Alexis Mabille’s increased focus on bridal, having dedicated his 34 Galerie Vivienne store to the category since mid-December, seemed to be wielding its influence here.
Or maybe just the idea of girls playing dress-up. A “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” theme wove through, with among leitmotifs a crystal tiara that morphed into belts and embellishments on the arms and bustiers of jewel-tone gowns.
The opening evening look, combining a pretty black bustier top in an oversize ruffle and high-split pants, was misleadingly restrained. The ruffles and colors — which spanned pastels, neons and unexpected mixes like turquoise and purple — got bigger and bolder, as silhouettes meandered between formal gowns, lingerie-inspired looks and princess dresses, like a lemon sherbet number dusted with crystals.
There were some nice moments, such as the yellow silk handkerchief dress edged with geometric black lines, and the delicate handiwork was impressive, especially on a voluminous, sheer overlay in illusion tulle striped with bands of colored satin, worn over a bodysuit.
But the collection’s obsession with making it down the aisle — whether for rocks or romance — felt out of sync with the times.

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High-minded glitz. Not a concept easily realized, even in the haute sphere. That’s because, just like everything else in fashion, glittering embellishment has a range from high to oh-so-low. It has been used and abused, the go-to trick-me-up for red-carpet mermaids, cheesy pop stars, cheesier gymnasts, housewives of who-knows-which-city and every PYT with an Instagram account and a party to chronicle. Along its egalitarian journey, the sparkly stuff has lost the luxe from its luster.
Leave it to Karl Lagerfeld to put it back in. At his Chanel show on Tuesday, he turned up the tony on intense renderings of allover crystal embroideries. His starting points: two icons of 20th-century creativity, Syrie Maugham and Alberto Giacometti. Maugham’s white interiors and famous slim-paned mirrored screen provided specific inspiration for Lagerfeld’s installation in the Grand Palais, right down to the multiple vases of sleek, tall calla lilies.
If the set reflected anything — other than everything — it was a sense of strict control imposed to enhance elegance without draining spirit. The prevailing silhouette was inspired by Giacometti’s “Spoon Woman.” The result: a waist higher than natural but below empire, with a skirt curved around the hips in the shape of a spoon. The

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Kiko Kostadinov presented a streamlined, minimal first collection for Mackintosh 0001. The new premium offer from the Scottish heritage label featured 10 unisex looks in black that relied heavily on the brand’s signature rubberized materials. Waterproof tape used to seal the seams on Mackintosh raincoats has been repurposed as reflective stripes throughout the collection — adding a sporty, urban element to looks that had an otherwise formal tone. The tape was also used to weigh down hems and sleeves, resulting in the traditional, loose cut on trenchcoats retaining a structured effect in motion. Overdyed black coats looked blue in the lights, contrasting with ebony knitwear for a sophisticated monochrome effect.

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The setting for Stéphane Rolland’s spring couture presentation was an art gallery, his designs displayed like abstract sculptures around the white open space.
Referencing the studios of Brâncuși and Rodin, his register was mainly the off-white of plaster of Paris, worked into his typical architectural shapes in fabrics such as gazar with asymmetrical organza shapes like flames or the petals of the calla lily.
Most of the designs sat in this monochrome palette, some with touches of gold leaf that stiffened the fabric, turning an enlarged collar into an almost-hood on one A-line gown.
A couple of black designs — “like the line drawn with a pencil,” said the designer — also found their way into the collection, although one of the more minimal pieces, a flowing hooded robe, looked curiously like something worn by Grace Jones in her Bond villain days. The centerpiece, meanwhile, was a bright red voluminous creation belted with a giant bustle. The color represented passion, the designer said, showing that his own passion has no bounds.
“This summer collection is sculptural, eternal and timeless, but never rigid, either in time or space,” the show notes said. Rolland’s aesthetic is deeply rooted, although he continued in the more pared-back direction

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Despite macro problems, Messe Frankfurt France is set to present a dynamic and expansive 40th anniversary edition of core fabric fair Texworld with a four-day run starting Feb. 6 at Le Bourget.
The exhibition organizer has garnered its largest exhibitor turnout for a February edition yet.
“We will have more than 1,000 exhibitors at Texworld and Apparel Sourcing combined,” said Messe Frankfurt France chief executive officer Michael Scherpe. “At Texworld, we have 725 registered exhibitors, and normally we have between 620 and 650. That’s quite a significant increase.”
Scherpe downplayed concerns about political and macroeconomic issues as well as terrorism fears and their impact on the industry.
“The global economy isn’t doing so badly, and unfortunately we have now become accustomed to [security fears] — they no longer have the same impact as they did,” he said, referring to the terrorist attacks that have shaken Europe over the past two years and had a heavy impact on traffic for many French trade shows in 2016.
“We are a trade show where people come to do business, rather than get information and trends,” he said.
Texworld and Apparel Sourcing, which gathers apparel contract manufacturers, are less sensitive to market forces than events with a more high-end positioning,

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PARIS — Kering has revealed the second phase of its sustainability strategy, to run through 2025, a three-pillar plan targeting environmental impact, social aspects and innovation.
“More than ever, I am convinced that sustainability can redefine business value and drive future growth,” stated François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering, which owns brands including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Puma and Boucheron.
“As business leaders, we all have a crucial role to play and I worked with the ceo’s of our luxury maisons to embed sustainability across our activities while developing this next important phase of our sustainability strategy.”
The program includes a plan to reduce the firm’s environmental footprint by 40 percent, from a 2015 base, by 2025.
The strategy will focus on three pillars: Care, devoted to the environment; Collaborate, for social aspects of sustainability like employee and supplier community welfare and equality, and Create, dealing with new business opportunities.
The firm’s previous sustainability road map for 2012 to 2016 focused 90 percent on environmental commitments, which the company measures using Environmental Profit & Loss accounting, Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability officer and head of international institutional affairs at Kering, explained.
Reducing the impact of the firm’s EP&L by 40 percent will

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Let creativity prevail.
That’s the message from organizers at Première Vision Paris, with stats confirming that despite ongoing global economic and political instabilities, the creative materials market is outperforming the world market.
According to the inaugural Première Vision Barometer, implemented as part of the IFM-Première Vision Chair launched in January 2016, creative textile production rose 1.6 percent in 2015 versus the prior year, while the market as a whole slipped 1.1 percent. In emerging markets, creative materials spiked 9.6 percent versus 4.6 percent for the general market.
“When the market is difficult, companies need to invest in creation. [We are] in a good position in terms of prospects and we will keep on innovating,” said Gilles Lasbordes, general manager of Première Vision Paris, which, at its upcoming edition, will present two new international economic indexes relating to the activity of the fabric and leather sectors for creative fashion.  The event is slated for Feb. 7 to 9 at the Parc des Expositions in Paris Nord Villepinte on the outskirts of Paris.
The show in its conference lineup will focus on key emerging trends, such as the resurgence of proximity sourcing, particularly in the countries that create fashion, organizers said, citing the current economic and

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Designers looking for a leg up and a home on the Upper East Side have a new place to turn: Code.
The 10,000-square-foot hybrid store, showroom, café and event space for designers at 800 Fifth Avenue — a port in the storm of New York’s fashion scene — is the brainchild of Moshe Lax, who was nudged into his new fashionable life by his wife, Shaindy, Hillary Beckman and Ivanka Trump.
When Shaindy found that it was no easy feat to break into department stores with her detailed fashions for kids, Lax turned to Beckman, a friend with a long list of fashion industry contacts, including childhood pal Tracy Margolies, sister-in-law and filmmaker Fabiola Beracasa Beckman and Bergdorf Goodman executive Elizabeth von der Goltz.
“I told him that the stars have to align, and even then, you may be a blip on the radar and never gain traction,” Beckman said.
Lax and Beckman concluded that the fashion industry is fragmented, struggling to stay one step ahead of consumers’ shifting tastes and still reconciling e-commerce with brick-and-mortar.
“There’s a hole in the market,” Beckman said. “There’s nowhere a new designer can go to get all the eyes, especially those of editors and heads of fashion departments.”
Lax

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Leave it to Public School to shake things up a bit.
The New York-based streetwear brand has been chosen as the third label in the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Retail Lab, a mentorship program that includes a physical store. But unlike their predecessors who opted for more-subdued designs, designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne created an installation that re-creates a Cadillac crashing into a wall inside the store at the Cadillac House at 330 Hudson Street.
The prior two designers who participated in the program were Timo Weiland and Cushnie et Ochs.
“We messed it up a bit,” Osborne said. “We ran a car through the wall to offset the prettiness of the showroom.”
And in keeping with the Public School aesthetic, the car’s trunk is halfway open and goods for sale are spilling out. “It’s like a street mentality,” Chow said. “You pop the trunk and that’s where you find the hot merchandise.”
Saying the installation was “a lot of fun” to create, the designers said the mix will change every week or so in order to draw repeat customers. In addition to men’s and women’s looks from the core Public School collection, the store will include “exclusive collaborative product” as well,

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Jill Newman