Monthly Archives: July 2011

From FT.com July 29, 2011

I admit it: I love a summer blockbuster. I can appreciate the allure of Eric Rohmer-school art-house talkies but, if I’m really honest with myself (and with you, too), it’s the explosive megaliths that get me every time. These are some of the few productions that still justify the whole big-screen-movie-going experience, as opposed to the relax-in-the-comfort-of-your-living-room experience. Surround sound! Flashing lights! The end of life as we know it!

Posted in Fashion, Hollywood |

Royal wedding fashion profiteering

July 29, 2011 3:57 pm by Vanessa Friedman

It had to happen, I suppose. After the huge-public-love-fest associated with the Kate Middleton/Prince William wedding, and the corresponding publicity and sales boost it delivered to many associated fashion brands, from Alexander McQueen to Launer, maker of the Queen’s buttercup handbag, it seems every other English designer is hoping a royal nuptial association might have a similar knock-on effect.

Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall

Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall - - Getty Images

Consider, for example, the following announcement I received from the PR for Cad and the Dandy, the tailor making Mike Tindall’s outfits for his wedding tomorrow to Zara Phillips (for those not as au fait with royal connections as, say, Hello! Magazine, the author helpfully points them out) :

“England rugby star Mike Tindall will claim his Royal bride – Zara Phillips (the Queen’s granddaughter) – clad in a classic black barathea morning suit fashioned by London bespoke tailors, Cad and the Dandy, from Huddersfield cloth….Mr Tindall’s tailors have revealed that the groom, the fathers of the bride and bridegroom, as well as the ushers will all be dressed to impress in complementary Huddersfield cloth suits at the wedding…The cloth is being supplied by premier English cloth merchants, Dugdale Brothers. ‘It is going to be an elegant affair, just like the ‘other’ Royal wedding in April,’ said James Sleater… ‘We’ll make sure Mike cuts a dashing figure in front of all his new Royal relations.’”

Neat-o!

Continue reading: “Royal wedding fashion profiteering”

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Posted in Menswear |

Should PPR buy Brioni?

July 28, 2011 6:42 pm by Vanessa Friedman
Brioni collection

Brioni August Winter 2011 collection. Image by Catwalking.com

Reuters is reporting rumours that PPR is in talks with Brioni about buying the Italian luxury brand. The PPR folk won’t comment, but I think the possible deal makes sense, mostly because Brioni is primarily a men’s wear brand (they also have a women’s line, currently designed by Alexander Dell’Acqua, but it’s tiny compared to the men’s). And I know because of a conversation with a PPR insider that the company thinks there is huge opportunity in the men’s wear market, mostly because of China.

China is, of course, the second largest luxury market in the world, and the main luxury consumers in China are men. Reuters says there are still questions around the possible deal, but conceptually it doesn’t take a financial genius to connect the dots. It would also fit in with the PPR portfolio, which doesn’t have a male-centric brand, without threatening the existing labels. And presumably, there would be some factory/production synergies with, say, Gucci and Bottega Veneta.

Continue reading: “Should PPR buy Brioni?”

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Posted in China, Luxury goods, Menswear |

The surprising big names behind an anti-suit crusade

July 27, 2011 4:00 pm by Vanessa Friedman

The Winklevoss brothers

The Winklevoss brothers in January 2011. Image by Getty.

Fashion can make allies of the most seemingly unlikely of pairs.

Last week, ex-US Treasury secretary, current Harvard prof and FT columnist Larry Summers, speaking with Walter Isaacson at a Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, announced that:

“One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole.”

Mr Summers was responding to a question from Mr Isaacson about a scene in the film “The Social Network” where the Winklevoss twins, in suits, visited his office when he was president of Harvard to complain about Mark Zuckerberg.

Continue reading: “The surprising big names behind an anti-suit crusade”

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Posted in Menswear, Recession |

Of fashion and Amy Winehouse

July 26, 2011 2:38 pm by Vanessa Friedman
Image of tributes to Amy Winehouse

Image by Getty

Today is Amy Winehouse’s funeral, and I hope, but am not convinced, the fashion world will acknowledge what it has lost.

She did, after all, provide the soundtrack to a season: just after her award-winning album “Back to Black” was released, when Rehab was the most popular track at fashion shows. I remember sitting in a Comme des Garcons collection listening to it; ditto Dior. If one song could work for both those brands, which stand for pretty diametrically opposed value systems (clothes as concept vs clothes as couture; clothes as challenge vs clothes as perfect costume), you knew it was something special.

Continue reading: “Of fashion and Amy Winehouse”

Posted in Fashion |

Versace will never do what it never did

July 22, 2011 3:25 pm by Vanessa Friedman

One of the more controversial, if obscure, practices in the fashion world is “sand-blasting”, the process by which sand is fired at denim at high speeds: pow, pow! While this can make the fabric look cool, it also releases silica dust which can cause pulmonary disease. Good for the catwalk, not so good for the factory workers, as the Clean Clothes Campaign discovered, so last year it started asking brands, luxury and otherwise, to look at their production processes and do the right thing.

So far, so normal, except in the case of at least one of the targeted companies.

Continue reading: “Versace will never do what it never did”

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Posted in Fashion |
From beyondbrics July 20, 2011

Clamour for British brands among emerging market consumers has been the making of luxury brands like Burberry and Mulberry. The long-established British fashion houses have seen their share prices rise 93 per cent and 500 per cent respectively in the past year as overseas revenues soar.

Now another group of British entrepreneurs is looking to cash in. Known as The Brand Cellar, the London and Hong Kong-based group is busy snapping up what is calls “much loved, but dormant” British brands.

Continue reading: “UK brands: retro in new markets”

Posted in Fashion |

The lessons of Wendi Murdoch

July 20, 2011 1:36 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Rupert and James Murdoch appear before British MPs on July 19, 2011. Image by Reuters.

I woke up to two pieces of related, and interesting, news (news in my context, that is): first, Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, had NOT worn black after all yesterday in parliament as I thought when I wrote about her on the day, but rather dark blue (my mistake), so the related blog post has been removed.

Second, the unexpected figure in the end was the woman in pink. Wendi Murdoch, who leapt to her husband’s defence and whacked his would-be attacker, is today’s hit of the blogosphere.

Why does this matter?

Well, besides suggesting I spend too many hours squinting at screens and might need to get my eyes checked, it points out the issues, good and bad, with the science of colour when it comes to dress and public appearance.

Continue reading: “The lessons of Wendi Murdoch”

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Posted in Womenswear |

Ties that bind the Murdochs in Westminister

July 19, 2011 3:53 pm by Vanessa Friedman
James and Rupert Murdoch appear before the Culture, Media and Sport select committee

PA Wire

So: for Rupert Murdoch, dark blue pinstripes, white shirt, blue tie with small pattern. For James, blue suit, white shirt, light blue tie with diagonal stripes.

If I had bet on what they would wear to their appearance before the select committee, I would have done pretty well in the “what will the Murdochs wear?” sweepstakes. And Murdoch Snr’s pinstripes are pretty subtle.

As a look that says “the buck stops here but I made an oversight boo-boo” it’s not bad. There’s the Tory blue of the tie, the purity and crispness of the white shirt, and a subtle suggestion of exhaustion in the cut of the suit.

Meanwhile, James looks like he could be a member of the Tory party, so similar is his garb to what the Prime Minister likes to wear. Interesting choice, that, given the pressure on Mr Cameron to disassociate himself from the Murdochs. It could backfire. Or it could be a subtle message not to throw them to the wolves.

What do you think?

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Posted in Menswear, Politics |

What the Murdochs should wear to parliament

July 19, 2011 12:39 pm by Vanessa Friedman
Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch

I’m waiting to see what Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch wear when they appear before British MPs today. Appearance has played a not insignificant role in the phone hacking drama: Rupert has, since his re-appearance in Britain to stem the scandal, been described as looking “old”, James as being less charming than his father thanks to his “Marine crewcut” (Newsweek) and little glasses and Rebekah Brooks, well, let’s just say “hair”, as mentioned by, well, every writer ever.

If they were characters in a tv serial, these would be the distinguishing features noted by the script writers to encapsulate character:

“Enter Rupert. His face is lined, and shows his age, followed by James, in crew cut, and Rebekah, with defiant red mane flying.”

See what I mean? Of course, in some circles the game has already started about who will play who in the movie. Bryce Dallas Howard for Rebekah B anyone? Ian McKellan for Murdoch Snr? Or is that typecasting due to hair and wrinkles?

Continue reading: “What the Murdochs should wear to parliament”

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Posted in Menswear, Politics |
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Material World

with Vanessa Friedman

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Vanessa Friedman's blog deals with the fashion/luxury industry from both a corporate and consumer point of view, as well as the subject of dress.



Vanessa FriedmanVanessa has been the FT’s fashion editor since 2003, and is based in New York, though she lived in London for 12 years.
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